Sibelius: 5. Sinfonie ∙ hr-Sinfonieorchester ∙ Daníel Bjarnason 

The final „applause“ by the orchestra itself reminds us of these extremely weird times we have gone through in the recent years. 😷

The opening horn call is my morning alarm. It is like a beautiful dawn on a Spring day.

A great symphony. The last movement is out of this world.

One of the most sublime piece of music in the classical music repertoire. Full of rich and raw harmonies and melodies, illustrating life and nature through music

Honesltly the sound engineers did an awesome job on this recording. So crisp, so clean, and each instrument clearly heard and defined. Probably the best sounding recording of this symphony i've ever heard. I've never seen the score myself, so I got to hear a bunch of cool things I hadn't noticed before.

What a remarkable and expertly composed end to the first movement, from 12:14 to 14:13. The violins set a polite and steady pace for the orchestra’s orderly march towards the exit. The flute chimes a gentle reminder for all to be patient. The cellos cordially comply while keeping a nervous eye on the door. There’s an anxious undercurrent, with everyone barely holding it together. Suddenly, the bassoons and clarinets impetuously demand that the whole affair be speeded up. Unwilling to wait any longer, the trumpets also loudly protest their impatience, greatly ramping up the tension. After one final, futile attempt by the flute to establish a sense of order, it surrenders to the overwhelming and growing confusion. Trombones and horns boisterously assert their presence and enthusiastically enter into the fray. All sense of decorum is completely abandoned and from here on it’s every instrument for himself. A wonderfully controlled chaos ensues as the entire orchestra is caught in a frantic mad dash to be the first to cross the finish line. The vivid symphonic imagery that Sibelius manages to create here in just a few bars is sheer genius.

The lush harmonies & flowing melodies are so entrancing and calming, I can't get enough. The sound quality on this recording is really good too, my favorite so far.

Such a grand work, played beautifully by this fine ensemble. The interpretation is, for me, very elegant. So sad there was no audience to burst into applause.

Can't believe I will be hearing this live in less than a week 🥺🥺

The opening always gets me feel like standing against a huge wind of luckiness to begin my own journey

I love the complete body of Sibelius' work. But, the Fifth is a true tour de force. Especially when played with such virtuosity!

Nice to see the players shifted around a bit. Especially pleased to see the young woman usually on oboe 2 for this performance doing a first rate job on 1st! Brava!!

My favorite Sibelius Symphonie

Da Capo: Those recordings are top quality musical, sound and vision, congragulations for the organisation.

never heard of him until this post. thank you very much. from the opening I knew this would be a distinctive reading. I need to check out his compositions. thank you very much.

Bravo!! This was one of the most effective, deeply-felt performances of this great work I may have ever heard. It certainly captured the exhilaration of seeing birds in flight, which I can imagine the entire Symphony to be about. It was intensely moving without being "over-interpreted", and inner voices could be heard clearly.

OMG! No audience yelling Bravo! I love this orchestra no matter who is conducting. But love the restrained control of Bjarnason.

A glorious reading.

This is perhaps my favourite. Together with the second, the third and the forth! But this fifth has something that the other lacks. This fifth is there just in it own ways, or just for fun, and then great music occurs. This fifth has astonished me many times with its splendour, like in the last movement. So I like to like it as one of my favourite Sibelius.

Half way into the first movement and I'm shivering like crazy.

8:30 Die Sonne geht auf, erleuchtet majestätisch und erschafft einen neuen Tag ❤️

Fantastic sound!

Ashame there was no live audience to imbibe it like a wonderful banquet. However WE were that audience !

Another exquisite performance of Sibelius' 5th by the Frankfurt Radio Symphony with maestro Bjarnason keeping the tempo very exact and true to the score. The wind and brass sections are both impressive with the young lady on 2nd Oboe particularly 'on song'. Jean would have been delighted with this performance and the esteem with which his 5th is held in.

superb final: six powerful chords through which the main theme is transformed in pure energy

Nice to see the substitute timpanist given an opportunity to play this wonderful Sibelius Symphony No 5

What a joy to have a glorious new recording of this glorious symphony: thank you from the bottom of my heart:-)

24:25 so good. 👌🏻💜

Absolutely flawless.

Bravo! A very good account of a difficult masterwork!

Just astonishing. The tension at the end....

Bravo!

An excellent account. Especially the first movement, that consisted in the original version of the symphony of two movements, is very difficult to conduct and play. It shatters very easily to pieces. I have in recent years heard so many. less good renditions, that I have sometimes felt, that the only few born Sibelians can make the most of it. Maestros like von Karajan, Vänskä, Ashkenazy or Dausgaard. Now I can add to this list also Bjarnason. And the orchestra. What can I say of it? I think I have heard so many top concerts of Sibelius in recent years, that perhaps the Frankfurt orchestra is the leading interpretor of the Sibelius symphonies right now. When do we hear Sibelius’s Fourth Symphony or the programmatic symphonic works like Kullervo Symphony or Lemminkäinen Suite: four legends? I tend to believe, that this organization could easily find some refreshing perspectives to theseworks, too.

Gran interpretación departe del maestro Daníel Bjarnason

My fav rendition; Sublime

Wunderschöne Aufführung dieser spätromantischen und nordisch komponierten Sinfonie mit gut harmoniserten und perfekt entsprechenden Tönen aller Instrumente. Der zweite Satz klingt echt schön und auch melodisch. Der intelligente und geniale Dirigent leitet das ausgezeichnete Orchester in verschiedenen Tempi und mit künstlerisch kontrollierter Dynamik. Wundervoll vom Anfang bis zum Ende!

Wunderbar!

Excelente interpretación. Muchas gracias HR. Saludos desde Perú.

직접 가서 보고싶네요ㅠ~♡ 너무 너무 잘들었습니다~!!

in 5 tagen bin ich live dabei, ich freue mich sehr!

2:34 light preview | 5:09 | 8:38 |

Nice piece. Hits the right balance of putting on well in the background, but also subtly enchanting in ways more than Sibelius' other symphonies.

The melody that the horns introduce in the third movement sounded so familiar to me yet I could not figure out why and it had been bugging me all week until finally it came to me. "The First Class" totally "borrowed" it in their son "Beach Baby" in the 70s. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-XG8MQ8f4nF4.html

Чудесная музыка! Будет мир!

Sibelius mucho detalle bastante detalles minucioso

12:39 = 15 before M

30:00 a real apotheosis

He just plowed through those rests at the ending of the final movement. Why?

While I am a sucker for Sibelius symphonies out of pure enjoyment, I sometimes imagine how good his music could be with contrasting developmental sections.

24:26

24:24

where is the regular tympanist, i wonder?

Bokehlicious beginning.

Frequently feels fast, some parts are a bit muddled, end of the 1st movement an example of this.

Those last sfz were hardly.

This is what you get when you treat bassoon as an unimportant instrument...anyone can play it!!!!!!

…….Sinfonien sind keine tausend Seen, auch wenn sie tausend Löcher haben….frei nach Adorno. Auch ich finde Sibelius Musik überschätzt. Gerade in den USA und Großbritannien, da rangierte der in der Wertschätzung lange deutlich vor Bruckner und Mahler!

24:28