CD, Sibelius (composer)
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Tchaikovsky & Sibelius Violin Concertos
RecommendedLisa Batiashvili (violin)
Staatskapelle Berlin, Daniel Barenboim
Batiashvili focuses on poetic intimacy in this deeply thoughtful performance. —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 18th November 2016
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BBC Music Magazine, April 2017, Concerto Choice
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Gramophone Magazine, January 2017, Disc of the Month
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Gramophone Awards, 2017, Finalist - Concerto
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Winner 2016
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Record Review, 28th January 2017, Recording of the Week
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Building a Library, November 2023, Recommended Recording
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Sibelius & Prokofiev: Violin Concertos
RecommendedJanine Jansen (violin), Klaus Mäkelä (cello), Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra
So impressive. Janine Jansen essentially strips these pieces of all the years of what one might call ‘performance adornment’ and takes them back to their elemental roots. —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 7th June 2024
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Winners 2024
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International Classical Music Awards, 2025, Nominated - Concertos
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Gramophone Awards, 2025 Shortlist, Concerto
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Sibelius: Symphonies Nos. 1-7
RecommendedRecorded from December 2014 to February 2015 at the Philharmonie Berlin
Berliner Philharmoniker, Sir Simon Rattle
Rattle has undoubtedly prepared his Berlin Philharmonic to the highest level for this Sibelius project, and the results are rarely less than impressive…Rattle is at his best in the grandeurs... —
Awards:
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International Classical Music Awards, 2016, Winner - Symphonic Music
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Building A Library, February 2026, Top Choice (Symphony No. 5)
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Sibelius: Symphony No. 5; Two Serenades; Two Serious Melodies; Swanwhite
RecommendedChristian Tetzlaff (violin), Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Nicholas Collon
The level of music-making presented here tells its own story. This is a Sibelius recording that’s up there with the finest of any era...And in the two groups of violin-and-orchestra pieces –... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, July 2025, Editor's Choice
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BBC Music Magazine, July 2025, Orchestral Choice
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2025
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Davidsen’s soprano sounds fresh, gleaming and direct, her top-most notes silvery. She knows how to ensure nothing gets overblown – and how to get so close to the edge that the effect is thrilling,... —
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It has a magic of its own which Andsnes casts equally, with his pure-source sound and range of colours, over early, middle and late Sibelius. The crystalline cascades of the Impromptu that launches... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, November 2017, Editor's Choice
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Presto Editor's Choice, September 2017
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2017
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Presto Recording of the Week, 15th December 2017
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The New York Times, Recordings of the Year 2017
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Jean Sibelius: Karelia Suite; Rakastava; Lemminkäinen
RecommendedHelsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Susanna Mälkki
Mälkki and the orchestra remarkably conjure the dark, swirling soundworld of ‘Lemminkäinen in Tuonela’ (the Hades of Finnish legend). And the concluding ‘Lemminkäinen’s Return’ canters along... —
Awards:
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Grammy Awards, 67th Awards (2025), Nominated - Best Orchestral Performance
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International Classical Music Awards, 2025, Nominated - Symphonic Music
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Special offer. Sibelius: Luonnotar; Tapiola & Spring Song
RecommendedLise Davidsen (soprano), Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Edward Gardner
[Davidsen's] breath control and even fullness of tone across a two-octave range prove radiantly equal to Sibelius’s uncompromising demands. —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 2nd July 2021
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2021
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Nielsen & Sibelius: Violin Concertos
RecommendedJohan Dalene (violin), Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, John Storgårds
Dalene has a strong command of long evolving lines – crucial in both composers – but he balances that with a fine feeling for ‘speaking’ phrasing and articulation...The expression can certainly... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, April 2022, Editor's Choice
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Presto Recording of the Week, 1st April 2022
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Gramophone Awards, 2022, Shortlisted - Concerto
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International Classical Music Awards, 2023, Nominated - Concerto
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Winner 2022
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2023, Nominated - Concerto
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While their elder conjures in translucent textures the otherworldly darkness of Lemminkäinen’s sojourn in the Land of the Dead, Madetoja and Pylkkänen opt for galloping drama and pathos in depicting... —
Awards:
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Record Review, 4th December 2021
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Presto Recording of the Week, 10th December 2021
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