Sibelius' Kullervo, an early five-movement tone poem on love, war, death, and heroism, has often seemed awkward, ill formed, and too long on recordings -- one thinks immediately of
Paavo Berglund's world-premiere 1970 recording -- and only rarely seemed majestic and magnificent -- one thinks immediately of
Jukka-Pekka Saraste's urgent 2002 recording. But
Paavo Järvi with mezzo-soprano
Randi Stene, baritone
Peter Mattei, the
National Male Choir of Estonia, and the
Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra turn in a performance here that rivals and in some ways surpasses even the best of the competition.
Järvi's unrelenting rhythm, ineluctable tempo, and unswerving sense of drama, along with the Swedish players' astounding strength and astonishing stamina and the Estonian chorus' tremendous power and diction deserve a lot of the credit. But a large part, perhaps the largest part, of the performances' success is due to the passionate love duet between
Stene and
Mattei in the central movement called "Kullervo and his Sister." Not since Act I of Die Walküre has the uncomfortable subject of incest been so persuasively portrayed. Captured in massive but clear and detailed sound by Virgin in 1997, this 2007 reissue makes an ideal introduction to the work as well as an important addition to any
Sibelius collection.