Thomas Sondergard - Sibelius: Finlandia - Hi-Fi News

Sound Quality: 90%

Rather than a continuation of Søndergård's BBC NOW Sibelius symphony cycle (Linn has released pairings of Nos 1/6 and 2/7 but his agency Askonas Holt says there won't be more and he's now left the orchestra). We have a concert of smaller pieces familiar apart from the five-movement King Christian II Suite - the composer's first printed score, premiered in 1898. The other works nicely complement the Colin Davis recordings, with consistently transparent textures, Søndergård getting playing of wide dynamic range too (sometimes barely audible), while Linn's Cardiff production conveys every nuance of Sibelius's scoring.