Who is this
Jorma Panula for whom even the Dutch newspapers have a notable interest? Well, from his class comes a whole parade of top Finnish conductors, including
Osmo Vänskä,
Jukka-Pekka Saraste,
Hannu Lintu,
Klaus Mäkelä (chief of the Concertgebouw Orchestra from 2027) and Santtu-Matias Rouvali. The latter is the conductor of this CD, the third of his Sibelius cycle. That makes for a nice
… comparison with Mäkelä, who earlier this year dropped his performances of Sibelius symphonies. Mäkelä provoked very opposing reactions. Admirable how he manages to accelerate from the first to the second movement in Sibelius' Fifth Symphony. But this also leaves the glories of Sibelius' music somewhat underexposed, as if Mäkelä does not want anything to slip out of his hands. In that respect, Rouvali communicates much more directly and playfully to the listener. It does not always have to be as sharp as it is here, but it is very clear this way (four stars out of five in the Volkskrant). (HJ)more
