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Title: The ugly duckling in Karajan's Sibelius output
Review: EMI must be embarrassed by Karajan's 1980 recording of the Sibelius Second. In their latest Karajan Edition reissues they picked his much earlier version with the Philharmonia. The 1980 Berlin version has been sporadically in and out of print, but it languishes as the ugly duckling in an output of Sibelius symphonies for EMI and DG that has won wide acclaim.The performance itself is powerful, often massive, and played with consummate skill. EMI's sonics are fine; the conductor is in good form. I'm baffled, frankly. British critics love Barbirolli's measured, highly personal account of the Second on Chesky with the Royal Phil., part of a Reader's Digest project from the Sixties. In some ways Karajan is the anti-Barbirolli, favoring high orchestral polish and an objective stance. Maybe that's the problem. In any case, I'm very impressed by Karajan's heroic approach, so let me lift a lone voice above the general neglect of a very fine reading.
