The Gothenburg Symphony are outstanding in this all Sibelius disc, but chief conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali’s fresh approach doesn’t always bring rewards

Gerald Barry’s deliberately muted new work, Kafka’s Earplugs, failed to make an impact in this venue, while James Ehnes was a deft and impressive soloist in Walton’s violin concerto

The contemporary works were unengaging, but the Romanian Orchestra’s Tchaikovsky enthralled, and Vengerov’s bravura reading of Prokofiev’s First Violin Concerto closed the concert in spectacular style

A day of concerts led by Sakari Oramo and the BBC Symphony Orchestra explored the Finnish composer’s tone poems and songs, and made for a vivid - and special - experience

The prodigious young talent has an exclusive recording contract with Decca but his debut – a Sibelius symphony cycle – is frustratingly uneven

Scenes from Finland’s national epic were set to music by many Finnish composers beyond the best known, Sibelius. These works by Klami, Madetoja and Pylkkänen deserve wider recognition, as these accomplished performances demonstrate

A meditation on the later years of the Finnish composer reflects more generally on creative renewal

His music is seeped in the myths and the natural marvels of his homeland and helped articulate the struggle for Finnish independence, but it is his seven symphonies that confirmed his place as one of the most original symphonic composers since Beethoven

Hallé/Elder
(Hallé)
Mark Elder and the Hallé bring a sympathetic, powerful character to Sibelius’s enigmatic symphonies

Thomas Dausgaard and the BBC Scottish Symphony conjure grand landscapes and a rousing plot with Helena Juntunen and Benjamin Appl the persuasive soloists

Paavo Järvi brings deep knowledge and affinity to this music, but the results don’t generate the thrills they should

Finley/Bergen PO/Gardner
(Chandos)