Paavo Berglund is the living link between generations of Finnish
Sibelius conductors. After the imperious
Karajan, the impulsive
Hannikainen, and the magisterial
Panula,
Berglund held
Sibelius' banner high, leading charismatic and wholly compelling performances in the period before the rise of
Salonen,
Saraste, and
Vänskä.
Berglund's first
Sibelius cycle in the early '70s with England's
Bournemouth Symphony was stark, strong, and unbearably heroic, while his second cycle with Finland's Helsinki Symphony in the mid-'80s was austere, severe, and overwhelmingly tragic. Unfortunately, after
Salonen's coolly sculpted
Sibelius,
Saraste's brilliantly virtuosic
Sibelius and
Vänskä's lucidly re-imagined
Sibelius,
Berglund's slight and slender cycle of the symphonies with
Chamber Orchestra of Europe in the late '90s seemed to put paid to his career as a
Sibelius conductor. Not so, as this magnificent pairing of a Second from 2005 and a Seventh from 2003 with the
London Philharmonic proves -- in the
Chamber Orchestra of Europe,
Berglund had simply picked too small an ensemble to embody the glory of his vision. With the
London Philharmonic at the peak of its latter-day powers,
Berglund carves immense monuments out of
Sibelius' symphonies, creating a Second at once lyric and heroic and a Seventh at once dramatic and epic. While there have been many great recordings of the Second and Seventh, anyone who loves and honors
Sibelius will want to hear these performances. LPO Live's sound is much clearer, deeper, and more evocative than its earlier releases. Perhaps too much so: one can easily hear
Berglund shouting at the orchestra at several points.