SIBELIUS : Tone Poems (2007) Serie The Sibelius Edition – Vol.1 | 5CD BOX-SET | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

68 discs in 13 thematic boxes containing all the music Jean Sibelius ever wrote, from the symphonies and tone poems to choral works, chamber music and the smallest piano piece.

“Sibelius’s known output over 80 hours and 30 minutes: an edition which gives voice to his music as surely as that music gave voice to a nation.” International Record Review
"Les treize volumes sont de ces entreprises qui honorent l'histoire du disque... Le soin éditorial est remarquable." Diapason
"A landmark in the composer's discography" Special Achievement Award in 2011 at the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA)
All Tracks & Credits

SIBELIUS : Voice & Orchestra (2007) Serie The Sibelius Edition – Vol.3 | 6CD BOX-SET | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Following up the first two instalments of THE SIBELIUS EDITION, this third volume offers the complete music for voice and orchestra, including orchestral songs, cantatas, melodramas and the composer’s one opera – The Maiden in the Tower. Opening the programme is one of Sibelius’s greatest works, Kullervo. This is his first work of symphonic proportions, and was a huge success at its première in 1892, only to be withdrawn soon after by the young composer. Here, for the first time, Sibelius entered the mythological realm of Kalevala, Finland’s national epos, a world which he would return to on numerous occasions – for instance in works such as Luonnotar, A Song for Lemminkäinen and The Origin of Fire, all included in this collection. Another theme which runs through Sibelius’s output was the yearning for national independence, a yearning which was fulfilled in 1917. The Fool’s Song of the Spider, Sandels, Have You Courage? and The Captive Queen are only some of the included works with a more or less overt political message. As with the previous instalments, several of the works are given here in more than one version, mirroring the composer’s tendency to return to a score even after publication, as well as his willingness, in certain cases, to adapt a work to varying performance conditions. Also included are the composer’s earliest surviving attempts at writing for choir and orchestra: two chorales from his student years. Among the recordings, three have not been previously released, and one of these – the 1912 version of  Have You Courage? – is a world première. Assembled in chronological order, the remaining recordings have been collected from a number of earlier discs, released to great critical acclaim. To mention but a few, Osmo Vänskä’s Kullervo has been described as ‘a first-class account, dramatic and powerfully atmospheric’ in Gramophone while the performances of  the orchestral songs with Jorma Hynninnen and MariAnne Häggander supported by Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra received a Grand Prix du Disque at the time of their original release. BIS
Tracklist & Credits

SIBELIUS : Theatre Music (2008) Serie The Sibelius Edition – Vol.5 | 6CD BOX-SET | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Tracklist & Credits 

SIBELIUS : Orchestral Works (2009) Serie The Sibelius Edition – Vol. 8 | 6CD BOX-SET | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Sibelius himself is reported to have said: ‘I am a man of the orchestra. You must judge me from my orchestral works.’ After the complete solo songs (Volume 7) and the works for violin and piano (Volume 6), the present instalment of the SIBELIUS EDITION returns us to the field in which the Finnish master has earned the greatest acclaim: that of orchestral music. As is demonstrated here, this ranges far beyond the famous symphonies and tone poems, however: apart from the perennially popular Violin Concerto, Sibelius wrote a number of suites, concert pieces, marches and scores for tableaux. Stylistically these works extend from the lightest of salon miniatures to heartfelt utterances of great profundity; their subjects range from the dance hall to the battlefield. From some of Sibelius’s best-known works (the Violin Concerto in Leonidas Kavakos’ award-winning recording; the Karelia Suite newly recorded by Osmo Vänskä) to rarities such as an early version of Rakastava never previously on disc, Volume 8 contributes seven hours worth of pieces to the fascinating puzzle that we know by the name of Jean Sibelius. Besides Kavakos, soloists include the violinists Dong-Suk Kang and Jaakko Kuusisto, Marko Ylönen (cello) and the baritone Raimo Laukka. The lion’s share of the programme is performed by the Lahti Symphony Orchestra under Osmo Vänskä, with memorable appearances by Neeme Järvi conducting the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. BIS
Tracklist & Credits

SIBELIUS : Symphonies (2011) Serie The Sibelius Edition – Vol. 12 | 5CD BOX-SET | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

The first chapter in the BIS Sibelius Edition contained some of the Finnish master’s most celebrated works, his Tone Poems. In the ten volumes that have been released after that, we have presented various less known aspects of Sibelius: the composer of chamber works and piano music, the miniaturist, even as the author of an opera. With the present instalment, the 12th and penultimate, we return to a genre for which he is particularly celebrated, namely the symphonic. The Seven Symphonies are undisputed treasures of 20th-century music which have fascinated great conductors and international audiences alike. They are here presented in performances by Osmo Vänskä, described in American Record Guide as ‘the Sibelius interpreter de nos jours’, and the eminent Lahti Symphony Orchestra, whose principal conductor he was for 20 years. The team’s recordings of the symphony cycle has been described as ‘towering head and shoulders over the competition’ in the French magazine Répertoire, and on the website Classical Source as being ‘almost universally recognised as the best of the digital age’. As these recordings now are given pride of place in the Sibelius Edition, they are complemented by alternative versions and fragments which provide a fascinating background to the final versions. The most substantial of these is the original version of Symphony No.5, available only in this recording, which upon its original release in 1996 not only received a Gramophone Award for its technical qualities but also was described by the same magazine’s reviewer as ‘one of the most important and above all interesting records to have appeared for many years.’ Also unique for BIS are the recordings of the remaining supplementary material, made under the supervision of the violinist and conductor Jaakko Kuusisto and released here for the first time. Besides a number of short fragments which illustrate the decision-making process of the composer’s creative mind in detail, it also includes preliminary versions of three complete movements: the scherzos from Symphonies Nos 1 and 4, and the second movement of Symphony No.3. In the accompanying booklet (numbering 128 pages), Sibelius expert Andrew Barnett guides us through this central chapter in Sibelius’ œuvre – an occasion not to be missed! BIS    Tracklist & Credits

SIBELIUS : Miscellaneous Works (2011) Serie The Sibelius Edition – Vol. 13 | 4CD BOX-SET | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

The final volume of the BIS Sibelius Edition is released almost exactly four years after the launch of the project in 2007. A main point of interest in this particular instalment – Miscellaneous Works – is the Masonic Ritual Music, Op.113 – here recorded for the first time with the original texts. Sibelius had become a freemason in 1922, soon after the foundation of the first modern Finnish lodge after the Russian ban on freemasonry in 1809. The music – set for tenor, male-voice choir and organ –  was written in response to a request for ‘special, genuinely Finnish music for the lodge’, and for it Sibelius used Finnish texts, including translations from German, Swedish and Chinese. Although the main part of Op.113 was composed in 1927, Sibelius made additions and revisions over the years, and the present performance (which is based on the 1950 edition), thus includes two pieces from 1946 believed to be his last original compositions. Two of the movements in the Masonic Music are for solo organ, and Volume 13 also includes Sibelius remaining solo works for that instrument, such as the striking Surusoitto (‘Mournful Music’) which Sibelius wrote for the 1931 funeral of the painter Gallen-Kallela, a friend of long standing. There are also a number of fragments and sketches included here, for instance of a projected musical adaptation of H.C. Andersen’s tale The Little Mermaid for string quartet and recitation, and a set of brief piano pieces for children. Of particular interest is the more substantial orchestral fragment of a projected tone poem entitled Luonnotar. In 1906 Sibelius had a change of heart, and recomposed much of the material included in the fragment into a new piece, Pohjola’s Daughter. Rounding off the edition on Disc 3 of the four CDs included here is the composer himself, conducting his own Andante festivo in a recording made during a live radio broadcast in 1939. Also on that disc is a video file of the classic ‘Jean Sibelius at Home’ film based on documentary material filmed in 1927 and 1945. As an appendix, a fourth CD contains music by contemporaries, friends and pupils of Sibelius, including Ferruccio Busoni and Robert Kajanus. With this final instalment a separate booklet with the complete index to the recordings and works included in the entire edition is provided, as a key to the 80+ hours of music that form the lifework of Sibelius. BIS   Tracklist & Credits

RAUTAVAARA : Angel of Light; Dances with the Winds; Cantus Arcticus (Osmo Vänskä) (1999) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

KORNGOLD : Piano Concerto In C Sharp For The Left Hand, Op 17 ♦ MARX : Romantisches Klavierkonzert (First Recording) (Marc-André Hamelin · BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra · Osmo Vänskä) (1998) Serie The Romantic Piano Concerto – 18 | FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Super-virtuoso Marc-André Hamelin plays two of the lushest products of late Romanticism. The Marx concerto, long awaited by pianophiles the world over, is a first recording. Written in the 1930s, it is perhaps closest in style to Richard Strauss with its gushing melodies and rich orchestration.

The Korngold left-hand concerto was written (like that of Ravel) for Austrian pianist Paul Wittgenstein who had lost his right arm during the First World War. It is Korngold at his most experimental and features a very large and colourful orchestra, and a particularly demanding (and awkward) piano part. Hyperion
        
Joseph Marx (1882-1964)    
    
Romantisches Klavierkonzert in E major [36'30]

Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897-1957)        
    
Piano Concerto for the left hand in C sharp Op 17 [27'37]

Credits :
Conductor – Osmo Vänskä
Leader – Iain King
Orchestra – BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Piano – Marc-André Hamelin

TCHAIKOVSKY : The Three Piano Concertos • Concert Fantasia (Stephen Hough · Minnesota Orchestra · Osmo Vänskä) 2CD (2010) Serie The Romantic Piano Concerto – 50 | FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

The Romantic Piano Concerto series reaches Volume 50. This series has been described as a jewel in Hyperion’s crown and one of the glories of the recording industry. Rarely in the history of recorded music has such a rich seam of undiscovered delights been mined to such consistently dazzling effect. These first fifty volumes include 131 works for piano and orchestra: fifty-nine of these works are premiere recordings and many other featured works have only been recorded once before. The performers include some of the greatest pianists, orchestras and conductors in the world, and each disc in itself is a miracle of virtuosity, scholarship and musicianship.

For Volume 50, a stellar cast has been assembled for a two-disc set that includes, unusually, one of the most famous concertos in the repertoire. Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No 1 has certainly achieved warhorse status—but in the expert hands of Stephen Hough it is a new creature. With the rest of this fascinating two-disc set we are in more usual RPC territory, with music which is actually not widely known. This is a complete survey of Tchaikovsky’s music for piano and orchestra and includes alternative versions of the second movement of Piano Concerto No 2 as well as some delicious extras.

Stephen Hough performed all four concertos at the BBC Proms in 2009 and was described as ‘the epitome of a “golden age” virtuoso with his balletic elegance and dazzling rhythmic reflexes’ (The Independent). Armed with this inestimably important experience, he travelled to Minnesota to record the set live with the Minnesota Orchestra under their acclaimed conductor Osmo Vänskä. The result is a set of unique importance: a winning combination of a pianist at the zenith of his artistry, a world-class orchestra and director, a pre-eminent producer and engineer, repertoire both familiar and unknown, and packaged with even more than the usual care that customers have come to expect from Hyperion. Hyperion

Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
1. Piano Concerto No 1 In B Flat Minor Op 23 (32:17)

Concert Fantasia In G Major Op 56 (28:24)

2. Piano Concerto No 2 In G Major Op 44 (39:42)

Piano Concerto No 3 In E Flat Major Op 75 Allegro Brillante 14:42

Piano Concerto No 2: Andante Non Troppo 7:06
Cello – Anthony Ross
Score Editor [Ed.] – Siloti
Violin – Lim Kyu-Young

Piano Concerto No 2: Andante Non Troppo 13:55
Cello – Anthony Ross
Score Editor [Ed.] – Hough
Violin – Jorja Fleezanis

Credits :
Conductor – Osmo Vänskä
Orchestra – Minnesota Orchestra
Piano – Stephen Hough