Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2011
I downloaded these performances from EMusic along with the other Vanska Nielsen performances so I can only vouch for sound on my computer and my headphones. The second symphony sounds like it was recorded by different personnel because the sound is less vivid and more back in the hall. This does not stop the symphony from making an impact, however. The previous reviewer mentions the Morton Gould/Chicago Symphony recording, which is certainly one of the most exciting performances out there. Most performances of this symphony are very recommendable. Blomstedt's and Chung's (on Bis) are two of my favorites. I certainly enjoy the Vanska recording. I am more excited about his recording of the 5th however. Something about this symphony seems to put a spark in the interpretation. The snare drum cadenza has just the right heft and balance with the orchestra (and he even uses rim shots!)The first fugue in the second movement flies like the wind and is very exciting, but the second fugue is gorgeously played with a perfectly placed final chord in the coda (unlike Colin Davis' otherwise fine recording).So far the Vanska cycle is very recommendable. I just can't have only one though!
This is another triumph in Osmo Vanska's Nielsen series. I feel that he is even better at conducting Nielsen than he is at Sibelius. The thorniness of Nielsen's writing seems to bring out the best in him. The Four Temperaments is one of my favorite symphonies by anyone, and Vanska does it proud. He avoids bathos is the more lyrical moments, throughout providing sturdy construction and much detail requiring a vivid imagination. This version is certainly equal to the classic version by Morton Gould and the Chicago Symphony, although I still have a sentimental fondness for my first LP of it, by Ole Schmidt and the London Symphony. There is some pathos in that recording which Vanska suggests slightly more dimly. The Fifth is the best version I ever have heard of this symphony. Here Vanska's marvelous control of his orchestra reaps vast dividends in structure and understanding. I first learned the work from LPs by Horenstein and Kubelik, but Vanska surpasses them. The recorded sound on this CD is up to BIS's high standards, full, well balanced, and not gimmicky. It is an album I will return to with pleasure many times over.
Open Web Player
