Almost alone among Austrian conductors,
Herbert von Karajan championed the symphonies of
Jean Sibelius in German-speaking countries. His mid-'50s recordings with the
Philharmonia for EMI were urgent, powerful readings that argued for the inherent greatness of the music. His mid-'60s recordings with the
Berliner Philharmoniker for DG were ineluctable, irresistible accounts that many critics and listeners still call the best non-Finnish recordings since the war. And then there are his mid-'70s performances again with the Berlin orchestra but this time for EMI, performances that are among the most beautifully played and masterfully conducted ever recorded. Part of it is EMI's warmer stereo sound that makes the Berlin seem bigger and rounder than in the DG's cleaner stereo sound. But most of it, of course, is
Karajan's imperious will and overriding determination to achieve absolute sonic perfection. Using the most virtuosic orchestra in the world as his instrument,
Karajan sculpts interpretations of
Sibelius' Fourth and Fifth symphonies that are exquisitely refined, exceedingly elegant, and almost unbearably beautiful. Both scores, the anguished Fourth and the exultant Fifth, are realized as supremely polished works of musical modernism with no flaw to mar their immaculate surfaces. Some listeners have questioned the appropriateness of this approach when it comes to the music of
Sibelius. Those who favor the abrupt transitions, knottier textures, sharper dynamics, and craggier structures of Finnish interpreters may find
Karajan's approach anathema. But listeners with more catholic tastes have always found much to enjoy in
Karajan's smoother, more overtly romantic
Sibelius.