Jean Sibelius in 1913
My review of a George Szell release (link below) prompted a comment from Edward Clark regarding Szell conducting Sibelius’s Third Symphony during the 1940s. Although Szell recorded the Second (in Amsterdam for Philips) and there have been Cleveland Orchestra own-label issues of him conducting numbers 4 & 7 from concerts, I wasn’t aware of a No.3. YouTube to the rescue with this Cleveland account from December 9, 1946…
This is a piece of brilliant research and will allow our perception of Maestro Szell to blossom a little further.
In truth he was not known at Cleveland for his penchant towards Sibelius, nor dare I say towards Mahler either. There is a wonderfully expressive Mahler 6 long available, live I believe. His late recording of No 4 remains a staunch classic.
Being the rounded musician he was it was natural for him to cover the water front over the many years with his players and his Sibelius 4 and 7 are testimony to this but I don’t think they are commercial recordings. In hind site it doesn’t really matter when we assess his range . Record companies have always been a bit fickle in boosting reputations in certain directions and Szell was certainly included in this attempt to stress other composers particularly Strauss.
This Sibelius 3 is proof of Szell’s open mind one year into his appointment at Cleveland and, for those who adore this seemingly lonely treasure , his interpretation at that moment in time is of unique interest.