Composer: Jean Sibelius
Orchestra: Hallé Orchestra
Conductor: Sir John Barbirolli
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Warner
Release: 1968/2020
Size: 2.25 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
Symphony No. 1 in E Minor, Op. 39:
01. I. Andante ma non troppo – Allegro energico
02. II. Andante, ma non troppo lento
03. III. Scherzo. Allegro
04. IV. Finale, quasi una fantasia. Andante – Allegro molto
Suite from Pelléas and Mélisande, Op. 46:
05. No. 1, At the Castle Gate
06. No. 2, Mélisande
07. No. 7, Mélisande at the Spinning Wheel
08. No. 9, The Death of Mélisande
From early in his career, Sir John Barbirolli was a doughty Sibelian.
The First Symphony brings another extraordinarily characterful, temperament-laden display, these performers audibly revelling in the music’s full-throated rhetoric. However, the first two movements have perhaps acquired a bit of a paunch since this team’s December 1957 Pye recording.