Sibelius: Symphony No. 2 (XRCD24 review)

Paul Kletzki, Philharmonia Orchestra. Hi-Q Records HIQXRCD26.

Now, here's the thing: Audiophile companies that remaster older recordings usually choose classic releases that most of the record-buying public already know and adore. They rely on the customer recognizing the recording, perhaps an old favorite, and wanting to own the recording in restored, up-to-date sound. That is, after all, how audiophile restoration companies make their money. And until the present disc, that has been the operating mode for major restoration companies like Hi-Q, FIM, and HDTT. Then along comes this Hi-Q remastering of Sibelius's Second Symphony with conductor Paul Kletzki and throws that whole procedure off.

I mean, I've been reading about, talking about, listening to, evaluating, and comparing classical recordings for well over half a century, and I've never once heard mention of Kletzki's Sibelius Second. Yet here it is, remastered in all its early stereo glory. And make no mistake: This is a great performance in good sound. I can only surmise that somebody in the Hi-Q organization loved this particular recording and figured it would make a nice transfer, public recognition be hanged. Or, what do I know, maybe everybody but me knows Kletzki's Sibelius, and I'm more sheltered than I know. In any case, the recording belies its 1955 origins and offers an interpretation second to none. If you have the money for such things, it's a possible consideration.

So, who was Paul Kletzki? He was a Polish conductor and composer of the mid twentieth century (1900-1973) who was semi-famous in his day but rather overshadowed by the giants of the time like Toscanini, Stokowski, Reiner, Walter, Klemperer, Bernstein, Ormandy, Szell, and the like. I know Kletzki mainly because he conducted one of my favorite recordings of all time: the Chopin Piano Concerto No. 1 with Maurizio Pollini and the Philharmonia Orchestra (EMI). And he conducted a very exciting rendition of Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade, also for EMI. In the mid Fifties he was the chief conductor of the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra; in the late Fifties he was the conductor of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra; and by the late Sixties he was the General Music Director of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. For the most part, though, Kletzki ran under the radar, making only a relative handful of stereo recordings before his death. Which brings us to the fortunate circumstance of the present disc--an outstanding achievement and for many people like me a newly discovered gem.

Anyway, Finnish composer Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) wrote his Symphony No. 2 in D, Op. 43 in 1902, and it has since become one of his most-popular works, probably his most-popular symphony in any case. The listening public quickly dubbed it his "Symphony of Independence," although no one is sure whether Sibelius really intended any symbolic significance in the piece. Even so, it ends in a gloriously victorious finale that surely draws out a feeling of freedom and self-reliance in the music.

The symphony begins with a generally sunny style, building to a powerful a climax, with a flock of heroic fanfares thrown in for good measure. Remarkably, Kletzki keeps the pace moving along briskly without ever seeming rushed. Of the half dozen other versions of the Sibelius I had on hand from Barbirolli, Davis, Karajan, Monteux, and such, the conductors take just a little over ten minutes to get through the first movement. Kletzki takes just a little over nine minutes. But, as I say, the music never feels hurried. Indeed, it seems just right, with a wonderful building and release of tensions along with a sweet, free-flowing spirit. While the music may appear fragmentary, Kletzki keeps it together with a delightful balance and precision.

Sibelius marked the second movement Andante (moderately slow) and ma rubato (with a flexible tempo) to allow a conductor more personal expression. This second movement begins with a distant drumroll, followed by a pizzicato section for cellos and basses that never sounded so enchanting as under Kletzki. As changing the tempo seems the conductor's favorite device, this movement suits him well.

The third-movement scherzo is a dazzling display of orchestral pyrotechnics, interrupted from time to time by a slower, more melancholy theme. Under Kletzki it bounces around at first with an admirable liveliness before moving into its more-pastoral theme, then its stormy midsection, and its tranquil conclusion. Again, the conductor finds just the right progressions to make all of this flow smoothly together, including a seamless transition into the Finale.

Then, the Finale bursts forth in explosive radiance--thrilling and patriotic. Oddly, it is only in this final movement that I thought Kletzki could have sounded even more stately and heroic. Still, he maintains a heady gait, keeping the momentum moving always forward and the music's fervor intense. No, Kletzki's reading doesn't displace my favorite recordings with Sir John Barbirolli and the Royal Philharmonic (Chesky) and Halle Orchestra (EMI), but it's close enough that Kletzki deserves a listen.

EMI producer Walter Legge and engineers Douglas Larter and Neville Boyling made the recording in July 1955 at Kingsway Hall, London. Yes, I said 1955. That means the recording comes from the beginning of the home-stereo era and has to be one of EMI's earliest stereo efforts. Obviously, because I had never heard of the recording before, I had no original disc on hand with which to compare this one; nevertheless, I can't imagine any previous CD or LP of the recording being any better. If played at high volume there is a slight tape hiss one hears in the quietest passages; at a normal listening level, however, the background noise becomes almost unnoticeable. There is no point in the symphony, however, that the orchestra ever sounds bright, forward, hard, thin, or anything but warm and natural. It's so good, in fact, it keeps you wondering how the sound could be this good for such a vintage. With all the advancements in audio technology, you'd think there would be a night-and-day difference between contemporary sound and early stereo sound, but no, there isn't all that much. Indeed, the sound here is almost as good as many things recorded today. The sound Hi-Q (JVC XRCD24 remastered) afforded Kletzki on this disc is big, open, resonant, dimensional, and, in short, realistic. The only areas in which it comes up a tad short are in terms ultimate midrange transparency and maximum dynamics. And in the final movement the stereo image seems to shift too far to the left. Aside from that, it's remarkable sound for its age.

As always, the folks at Hi-Q provide a premium product and a premium package, a glossy, hard cardboard and plastic Digipak-type container, the booklet notes sewn book-like into the center, the disc fastened to the inside back cover. You'll find Hi-Q's products on-line from any number of vendors, but among those sites offering the best prices is Elusive Disc: http://www.elusivedisc.com/Sibelius-Symphony-No-2-In-D-Major-XRCD24/productinfo/HIQSXR26/

JJP

To listen to a brief excerpt from this album, click here:

Meet the Staff

Meet the Staff
John J. Puccio, Founder and Contributor

Understand, I'm just an everyday guy reacting to something I love. And I've been doing it for a very long time, my appreciation for classical music starting with the musical excerpts on the Big Jon and Sparkie radio show in the early Fifties and the purchase of my first recording, The 101 Strings Play the Classics, around 1956. In the late Sixties I began teaching high school English and Film Studies as well as becoming interested in hi-fi, my audio ambitions graduating me from a pair of AR-3 speakers to the Fulton J's recommended by The Stereophile's J. Gordon Holt. In the early Seventies, I began writing for a number of audio magazines, including Audio Excellence, Audio Forum, The Boston Audio Society Speaker, The American Record Guide, and from 1976 until 2008, The $ensible Sound, for which I served as Classical Music Editor.

Today, I'm retired from teaching and use a pair of bi-amped VMPS RM40s loudspeakers for my listening. In addition to writing for the Classical Candor blog, I served as the Movie Review Editor for the Web site Movie Metropolis (formerly DVDTown) from 1997-2013. Music and movies. Life couldn't be better.

Karl Nehring, Editor and Contributor

For more than 20 years I was the editor of The $ensible Sound magazine and a regular contributor to both its equipment and recordings review pages. I would not presume to present myself as some sort of expert on music, but I have a deep love for and appreciation of many types of music, "classical" especially, and have listened to thousands of recordings over the years, many of which still line the walls of my listening room (and occasionally spill onto the furniture and floor, much to the chagrin of my long-suffering wife). I have always taken the approach as a reviewer that what I am trying to do is simply to point out to readers that I have come across a recording that I have found of interest, a recording that I think they might appreciate my having pointed out to them. I suppose that sounds a bit simple-minded, but I know I appreciate reading reviews by others that do the same for me — point out recordings that they think I might enjoy.

For readers who might be wondering about what kind of system I am using to do my listening, I should probably point out that I do a LOT of music listening and employ a variety of means to do so in a variety of environments, as I would imagine many music lovers also do. Starting at the more grandiose end of the scale, the system in which I do my most serious listening comprises Marantz CD 6007 and Onkyo CD 7030 CD players, NAD C 658 streaming preamp/DAC, Legacy Audio PowerBloc2 amplifier, and a pair of Legacy Audio Focus SE loudspeakers. I occasionally do some listening through pair of Sennheiser 560S headphones. I miss the excellent ELS Studio sound system in our 2016 Acura RDX (now my wife's daily driver) on which I had ripped more than a hundred favorite CDs to the hard drive, so now when driving my 2022 Accord EX-L Hybrid I stream music from my phone through its adequate but not outstanding factory system. For more casual listening at home when I am not in my listening room, I often stream music through the phone into a Vizio soundbar system that has tolerably nice sound for such a diminutive physical presence. And finally, at the least grandiose end of the scale, I have an Ultimate Ears Wonderboom II Bluetooth speaker for those occasions where I am somewhere by myself without a sound system but in desperate need of a musical fix. I just can’t imagine life without music and I am humbly grateful for the technology that enables us to enjoy it in so many wonderful ways.

William (Bill) Heck, Webmaster and Contributor

Among my early childhood memories are those of listening to my mother playing records (some even 78 rpm ones!) of both classical music and jazz tunes. I suppose that her love of music was transmitted genetically, and my interest was sustained by years of playing in rock bands – until I realized that this was no way to make a living. The interest in classical music was rekindled in grad school when the university FM station serving as background music for studying happened to play the Brahms First Symphony. As the work came to an end, it struck me forcibly that this was the most beautiful thing I had ever heard, and from that point on, I never looked back. This revelation was to the detriment of my studies, as I subsequently spent way too much time simply listening, but music has remained a significant part of my life. These days, although I still can tell a trumpet from a bassoon and a quarter note from a treble clef, I have to admit that I remain a nonexpert. But I do love music in general and classical music in particular, and I enjoy sharing both information and opinions about it.

The audiophile bug bit about the same time that I returned to classical music. I’ve gone through plenty of equipment, brands from Audio Research to Yamaha, and the best of it has opened new audio insights. Along the way, I reviewed components, and occasionally recordings, for The $ensible Sound magazine. Most recently I’ve moved to my “ultimate system” consisting of a BlueSound Node streamer, an ancient Toshiba multi-format disk player serving as a CD transport, Legacy Wavelet II DAC/preamp/crossover, dual Legacy PowerBloc2 amps, and Legacy Signature SE speakers (biamped), all connected with decently made, no-frills cables. With the arrival of CD and higher resolution streaming, that is now the source for most of my listening.

Ryan Ross, Contributor

I started listening to and studying classical music in earnest nearly three decades ago. This interest grew naturally out of my training as a pianist. I am now a musicologist by profession, specializing in British and other symphonic music of the 19th and 20th centuries. My scholarly work has been published in major music journals, as well as in other outlets. Current research focuses include twentieth-century symphonic historiography, and the music of Jean Sibelius, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Malcolm Arnold.

I am honored to contribute writings to Classical Candor. In an age where the classical recording industry is being subjected to such profound pressures and changes, it is more important than ever for those of us steeped in this cultural tradition to continue to foster its love and exposure. I hope that my readers can find value, no matter how modest, in what I offer here.


Bryan Geyer, Technical Analyst

I initially embraced classical music in 1954 when I mistuned my car radio and heard the Heifetz recording of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto. That inspired me to board the new "hi-fi" DIY bandwagon. In 1957 I joined one of the pioneer semiconductor makers and spent the next 32 years marketing transistors and microcircuits to military contractors. Home audio DIY projects remained a personal passion until 1989 when we created our own new photography equipment company. I later (2012) revived my interest in two channel audio when we "downsized" our life and determined that mini-monitors + paired subwoofers were a great way to mate fine music with the space constraints of condo living.

Visitors that view my technical papers on this site may wonder why they appear here, rather than on a site that features audio equipment reviews. My reason is that I tried the latter, and prefer to publish for people who actually want to listen to music; not to equipment. My focus is in describing what's technically beneficial to assure that the sound of the system will accurately replicate the source input signal (i. e. exhibit high accuracy) without inordinate cost and complexity. Conversely, most of the audiophiles of today strive to achieve sound that's euphonic, i.e. be personally satisfying. In essence, audiophiles seek sound that's consistent with their desire; the music is simply a test signal.

Mission Statement

It is the goal of Classical Candor to promote the enjoyment of classical music. Other forms of music come and go--minuets, waltzes, ragtime, blues, jazz, bebop, country-western, rock-'n'-roll, heavy metal, rap, and the rest--but classical music has been around for hundreds of years and will continue to be around for hundreds more. It's no accident that every major city in the world has one or more symphony orchestras.

When I was young, I heard it said that only intellectuals could appreciate classical music, that it required dedicated concentration to appreciate. Nonsense. I'm no intellectual, and I've always loved classical music. Anyone who's ever seen and enjoyed Disney's Fantasia or a Looney Tunes cartoon playing Rossini's William Tell Overture or Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 can attest to the power and joy of classical music, and that's just about everybody.

So, if Classical Candor can expand one's awareness of classical music and bring more joy to one's life, more power to it. It's done its job. --John J. Puccio

Contact Information

Readers with polite, courteous, helpful letters may send them to classicalcandor@gmail.com

Readers with impolite, discourteous, bitchy, whining, complaining, nasty, mean-spirited, unhelpful letters may send them to classicalcandor@recycle.bin.

"Their Master's Voice" by Michael Sowa

"Their Master's Voice" by Michael Sowa