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Thomas Sondergard - Sibelius: Symphonies 2 & 7 - BBC Music Magazine

The best recordings in the large Sibelius catalogue set a formidable standard, and there will no doubt be plenty more to come in the composer's anniversary year. Thomas Søndergård has a deserved reputation as a fine conductor. The Second Symphony's opening movement here promises much, with Søndergård setting a brisk-ish main tempo (more than fair enough: Sibelius himself, insisting on this music's essential 'joyfulness', disliked the dirge-like pace at which it was often taken); there's also much deft and accurate detail, while the risk of bombast behind the heavier brass scoring is kept well at arm's length. 

While the shifts of pace within [the Seventh Symphony's] single-movement design are perhaps not as tricky to manage as received opinion has it, they're not so easy either, and Søndergård handles them very convincingly.

BBC Music Magazine
12 February 2015