Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)
Symphony No. 3 in C major, Op 52 (1907)
Symphony No. 7 in C major, Op 105 (1924)
Scottish National Orchestra/Alexander Gibson
rec. September 1965, Usher Hall, Edinburgh
Reviewed as a download
CRQ 536 [77]

Note. This release, licensed from Klassic Haus, also contains a transfer of Sibelius No. 5 in the 1959 RCA/Decca recording by Alexander Gibson with the LSO.

Alexander Gibson(1926-1995) made records for Decca, Readers Digest, World Record Club and Waverley in the early 1960s. By this time, he was in Scotland leading the Scottish National Orchestra and Scottish Opera. The coupling of Sibelius’ symphonies 3 and 7 considered here, in the final of my three recent reviews of material featuring the great conductor whose centenary falls this year, was made by Waverley but never issued by them. It initially appeared on the Alpha label and subsequently on Saga records. At the Edinburgh Festival of that year Gibson conducted Mahler and Sibelius and this record of Sibelius’ 3 and 7 from the following month is very special indeed. I don’t believe it has ever had a major label CD release.

Written in the aftermath of his huge triumph with the Second symphony, Sibelius’ Third is a very different work. For me, it represents a turning point in the master’s output. It was written at a tough time in his personal life, too. He had just left Helsinki, where he wrote “all melody dies”, and moved into his new home Ainola in the pine and birch forest. His struggle to get the work into score was hard won but what emerged with its classical poise and grace, clean lines and strict form was the symphony he wanted to write. Shortly after finishing it, he met Mahler in Helsinki. The dialogue between those two great symphonic composers is very famous. Sibelius admired the symphony’s organic logic, its severity. Mahler’s view was a little different. Sibelius’ Seventh symphony of the 1920s is also written in the clean key of C major. With no sharps and flats this key was considered very difficult to express oneself in symphonically back in those days. Vaughan Williams said only Sibelius made it sound fresh. In the Seventh, written in one movement, he composed one of the greatest single spans of music of the last five hundred years. I have never wavered in my love and admiration for its breathtaking grandeur, vision, resplendence and nobility.

The reissue of this seemingly modest, unassuming Saga record was made by John Whitmore (LP transfer) and digitally remastered by Curt Timmons for his Klassic Haus label. The transfers are available under licence from CRQ Editions. The sound is highly impressive indeed, with vivid and vibrant sonics. There is good stereo effect, and the playing is noble and committed. These Scottish musicians had been playing under Gibson for over five years, and it feels symbiotic. All sections of the orchestra play magnificently but it is the overall unity of purpose that shines through for me. This works especially well for these two important, tightly constructed C major symphonies. This was in fact the same coupling that HMV used in their original Sibelius Society volume issue back in the days of 78s with Kajanus and Koussevitzky. Those two accounts are legendary. These are not too far away in their overall embracing vision and commitment. The original record transcription to file is a sound one. I hear very minimal filtering and tinkering with the original material. The surfaces are quiet. There is some hiss but that doesn’t bother me at all. I would recommend these performances as enshrining the very best of Gibson in his beloved Sibelius, surpassing even his later splendid versions for Chandos.

My reviewing colleague and pianist Christopher Howell, studying in Edinburgh back in the early seventies, saw Alexander Gibson in concert and opera many times. I never had that privilege. He remembers that on his day he could turn in tremendous performances yet on other occasions he seemed not to be bothered. I have heard this expressed by others, too. Gibson’s career outside Scotland may have been affected by this unpredictable inconsistency as well as the health problems brought on by alcohol and cigarettes. Christopher reviewed a CD reissue of Mendelssohn for us 24 years ago; his review contains some insights readers may find interesting. I have enjoyed listening to Alexander Gibson’s recorded legacy in the year of his centenary (review ~ review ~ review). There is a clip, on YouTube, where he recounts his satisfaction on being told by Martin Milner (leader of the Hallé) that the old man (Sir John) thought a Brahms 2 he had just conducted in Manchester was “very beautiful”. That was all he wanted to hear; the approval of the great conductor was enough for him. I rather like that humility and respect. We need more of it in our artistic heroes, I think.

Philip Harrison