George J
Herefordshire member
On June 3rd., 1934, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchester under Georg Schnéevoigt [in the main studio at Abbey Road] made the first recording of Sibelius' Sixth Symphony.
EMI had planned to make more recordings with Robert Kajanus, who was a rightly famous exponent of Sibelius [and personal friend of the composer], but he was ailing and died in 1934. Listening to this wonderful and atmospheric recording, it seems to me that the musical tradition in Finland had talent in depth!
This is the EMI transfer to CD as now released on on Warner. I have the Kajanus recordings [on licensed Finlandia CDs] separately, and the complete symphonies from premiere recordings as issued by Warner.
Though the cycle is the work of Kajanus, Schnéevoigt, Beecham and Kousevitsky, so not a unified vision, I find these older style performances still have much to teach us ...
Please do find the half hour or so for this rather rare recording. It will reward your patience, and the actual technical quality is amazing for 1934. It is better than many mono LP recordings from the 1950s.
Best wishes from George
EMI had planned to make more recordings with Robert Kajanus, who was a rightly famous exponent of Sibelius [and personal friend of the composer], but he was ailing and died in 1934. Listening to this wonderful and atmospheric recording, it seems to me that the musical tradition in Finland had talent in depth!
This is the EMI transfer to CD as now released on on Warner. I have the Kajanus recordings [on licensed Finlandia CDs] separately, and the complete symphonies from premiere recordings as issued by Warner.
Though the cycle is the work of Kajanus, Schnéevoigt, Beecham and Kousevitsky, so not a unified vision, I find these older style performances still have much to teach us ...
Please do find the half hour or so for this rather rare recording. It will reward your patience, and the actual technical quality is amazing for 1934. It is better than many mono LP recordings from the 1950s.
Best wishes from George