Montgeroult: 6 Etudes for Piano

Album review

Conductor Owain Arwel Hughes, an octogenarian when this album appeared in 2022, has chosen a cycle of Sibelius symphonies for his major late-life statement. This is the second release in the set, pairing the Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 43, and Symphony No. 4 in A minor, Op. 63, at a risky-for-presenters 87 minutes in total. The length is partly the result of Hughes' deliberate pacings; the Symphony No. 2 comes in more than four minutes longer than the historical average. Listeners looking for the tap-your-feet, nationalistically inspiring Sibelius of a Karajan or a Bernstein might do better to seek elsewhere. Yet Hughes' readings work on their own terms. He is especially strong in the Symphony No. 4, whose "disconcerting elements... compellingly capture the debilitating effects of depression," in the penetrating words of annotator Daniel Jaffé. He avoids histrionics and lets the exhausted second movement, the grim third movement, and the finale speak for themselves. The Symphony No. 2 is straightforward and even in its pacing but does not lack warmth. The Royal Philharmonic, which has had Sibelius in its bones for decades, is the perfect vehicle for what Hughes is trying to do, and it is beautifully recorded by Rubicon Classics here. In a way, this recording re-creates the old-time era of British Sibelius before "golden age" conductors got hold of his music.

© James Manheim /TiVo