Jarvi: Tubin – The Symphonies (5 CD box set, APE)

Orchestra: Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Bamberg Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Neeme Jarvi
Composer: Eduard Tubin
Audio CD
Number of Discs: 5 CD box set
Format: APE (image+cue)
Label: BIS
Size: 1.42 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes

# Symphony No. 1 in C minor
Composed by Eduard Tubin
Performed by Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra
with Ola Karlsson, Bjorn Sjogren, Bernt Lysell
Conducted by Neeme Jarvi

# Symphony No. 5 in B minor
Composed by Eduard Tubin
Performed by Bamberg Symphony Orchestra
Conducted by Neeme Jarvi

# Symphony No. 2 (“Legendary”)
Composed by Eduard Tubin
Performed by Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra
with Bjorn Sjogren, Bernt Lysell, Bengt Forsberg
Conducted by Neeme Jarvi

# Symphony No. 6
Composed by Eduard Tubin
Performed by Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra
with Jorgen Pettersson, Bengt Forsberg
Conducted by Neeme Jarvi

# Symphony No. 3 (“Heroic”)
Composed by Eduard Tubin
Performed by Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra
with Bernt Lysell
Conducted by Neeme Jarvi

# Symphony No. 8
Composed by Eduard Tubin
Performed by Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra
with Bernt Lysell
Conducted by Neeme Jarvi

# Symphony No. 4 (“Sinfonia Ilirica”)
Composed by Eduard Tubin
Performed by Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra
Conducted by Neeme Jarvi

# Symphony No. 9 (“Sinfonia Semplice”)
Composed by Eduard Tubin
Performed by Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra
Conducted by Neeme Jarvi

# Toccata for orchestra
Composed by Eduard Tubin
Performed by Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra
Conducted by Neeme Jarvi

# Symphony No. 7
Composed by Eduard Tubin
Performed by Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra
Conducted by Neeme Jarvi

# Symphony No. 10
Composed by Eduard Tubin
Performed by Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra
Conducted by Neeme Jarvi

# Kratt, ballet Suite: Introduction. No. 1. Peasant Dance / No. 2. Dance of the Goblin
Composed by Eduard Tubin
Performed by Bamberg Symphony Orchestra
Conducted by Neeme Jarvi

# Kratt, ballet Suite: Introduction. No. 3. Long Dance / No. 4. Peasant Waltz / No. 5. Buck Dance
Composed by Eduard Tubin
Performed by Bamberg Symphony Orchestra
Conducted by Neeme Jarvi

# Kratt, ballet Suite: Interlude. No. 6. Dance of the Exorcists / No. 7. The Goat / No. 8. The Cock / No. 9. Dance of the Northern Lights
Composed by Eduard Tubin
Performed by Bamberg Symphony Orchestra
Conducted by Neeme Jarvi

CD 01
Symphony No.1
01. I. Adagio – Allegro feroce
02. II. Allegretto moderato
03. III. Sostenuto assai quasi largo e poco maestoso

Symphony No.5
04. I. Allegro energico
05. II. Andante
06. III. Allegro assai

CD 02
Symphony No.2, ‘The Legendary’
01. I. Legendaire
02. II. Sostenuto assai, grave e funebre
03. III. Tempestoso, ma non troppo allegro (quasi toccata)

Symphony No.6
04. I. Andante sostenuto, ma ritmico
05. II. Molto allegro
06. III. Festoso

CD 03
Symphony No.3
01. I. Largo – Energico
02. II. Molto allegro e tempestoso
03. III. Largo, maestoso

Symphony No.8
04. I. Andante quasi adagio
05. II. Allegro moderato
06. III. Allegro vivace
07. IV. Lento, tenuto e maestoso

CD 04
Symphony No.4
01. I. Molto moderato
02. II. Allegro con anima
03. III. Andante un poco maestoso
04. IV. Allegro

Symphony No.9
05. I. Adagio
06. II. Adagio, lento
07. Toccata

CD 05
Symphony No.7
01. I. Allegro moderato
02. II. Larghetto
03. III. Allegro marciale
04. Symphony No.10 in one movement

Suite from Ballet ‘Kratt’
05. I. Introduction
06. II. Long Dance
07. III. Interlude

A treat for any VW or Sibelius lover

These are wonderful pieces of music. If you like Vaughan Williams or Sibelius, or better, both, opening this set is like opening a box of chocolates. The Fourth, especially, has an otherworldly, luminous character that is totally captivating, and sounds almost like VW’s symphony 5a. The Fifth has an Andante that starts out much like the slow movement of Shostakovich’s 11th, but instead of dragging on as that piece does, turns into sheer magic, the transfigured final bars drifting up into the stratosphere. There are stereophonically placed sets of timpani a la Nielsen 4, that come into their own in the finale and provide an extremely thrilling conclusion to the piece. The Second also has imaginative use of timpani, as well as an opening of spell-binding magic, with mysterious piano arabesques in the background. But it also features a devastating funeral march and an intense, multifaceted finale. Each of the ten symphonies included holds its own share of surprises and delights; as a whole, this oeuvre to me is quite a discovery.

The recordings, unfortunately, are not all as clean and perfect as one would like. The disc containing symphonies 1 and 5 gave trouble on my CD-player, where the music was accompanied by a persistent and extremely distracting ticking noise, growing louder in fortissimo’s and sounding for all the world as if the conductor was marking a syncopated beat by furiously slapping his desk with his baton. However, in my DVD player it sounds fine, so I suppose this is an error that newer machines have no trouble dealing with. The recording of the Fourth sounds downright messy at times; unlike the others, it was taken from a public concert, and there is a fair lot of extraneous noise, incredibly enough including footsteps and distant whistling! The recording by the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra on the Alba label is definitely preferable. The other symphonies fare rather better and offer wide-ranging and sufficiently (though not ideally) detailed and natural sound, especially in quieter passages. On the other hand – don’t let the tam-tam strokes in the Eight catch you unawares!

The clever packaging is somewhat of an intelligence test and may have you believe that one disc is missing – but don’t be fooled…