The finale’s coda, which can sound like music which, in Stravinsky’s phrase, “ends after it has finished”, was expertly graduated by Oramo so that there was a stirring sense of direction through to the close. The flying 6/8 of the Scherzo was true to its vivacissimo marking, and although this work is familiar to players, such virtuosity is not to be taken for granted. Suave bassoons in octaves led us into the Kalevala world of the slow movement, where the (slightly reduced) string body sang the hymn-like second subject sweetly. From the chirruping winds at the start, to the climax with its Sibelian trademark swelling long note ending with a shake, Oramo was a sure-footed guide in the first movement. The Second Symphony had the same virtues of well-judged speeds, subtle rubato, fine individual and corporate playing, that we heard in the First. Instead we heard the two resigned pizzicato chords that ended the first movement. The finale’s thrilling ardour was not diminished in the empty hall, as we approached the triumphant ending that Sibelius, despite being armed with bass drum, cymbal and triangle, omitted to write. The Scherzo’s rhythm can challenge an orchestra, but its tricky syncopations were delivered with flair by the Stockholm players. The cymbal clashes registered well at the climax, but the harp – a key instrument in this work – was too subdued in the streamed sound mix despite its position in the very centre of the layout. The ensuing Andante had an especially hushed opening muted violin lullaby – with a metre between each fiddler and no sharing of desks each violinist must have felt they were playing a solo. That Andante opening yielded to a stirring Allegro energico and Oramo maintained momentum even through the lyrical episodes, right up to that curt close with two pizzicato string chords. A soft ( pp crescendo) drumroll, and a clarinet ( mf espressivo), hairpin dynamics punctuating its rise and fall over 26 bars, is the mysterious portal to this cycle, and already we heard the benefits of observing detailed markings.
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