Sibelius - Classical Music
Sibelius: Finlandia/Tone Poems.
Dvorák: The Symphonies [Box Set]
Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto Op35; Brahms: Violin Concerto in D Op77
Sibelius: Symphonies 4 & 7; Finlandia

As so often happens in the classical record business, Sir Colin Davis has been busily rerecording all of this music for RCA, with the London Symphony. And because he's an English conductor working with an English orchestra, the British critics are raving, as if these earlier, much better, and much less expensive versions didn't even exist. Well, ignore the hype. Not only does the Boston Symphony play rings around today's London Symphony Orchestra (Davis's current group), but they are much better recorded too. This first Sibelius cycle was a prime recommendation when it first came out, and it still is, plain and simple. --David Hurwitz - $9.56
Sibelius: The Complete Symphonies 2
The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century
Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra; Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta; Hungarian Sketches

It was clever of Philips to couple Sibelius's least popular symphonies with the extremely popular Violin Concerto and tone poems. Don't let the words "least popular" scare you off, however. If you like Sibelius, you'll love the Third and Sixth Symphonies. The latter, in particular, is one of the most purely beautiful pieces of music in the history of sound; its only flaw is a quiet ending that makes conductors unwilling to play it at live concerts. Sir Colin Davis and the Boston Symphony perform all of this music with idiomatic flair and unflagging enthusiasm. These versions are far superior to Davis's recent remakes on RCA, and a lot cheaper too. So go ahead, indulge. --David Hurwitz - $11.73
Sibelius: The Complete Symphonies 1
Dvorák: The Symphonies [Box Set]
Olivier Messiaen: Quartet for the End of Time
Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 5 & 9
Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra; Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta; Hungarian Sketches
Tchaikovsky Symphonic Poems / Manfred Symphony
Nielsen: Symphonies no 4-6 / Blomstedt, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra
Jean Sibelius: Symphonies No. 4-7, Tapiola etc.
Vaughan Williams: The Nine Symphonies [Box Set]
Mendelssohn: 5 Symphonies; 7 Overtures
Dvorák: The Symphonies [Box Set]
Bruckner: The Complete Symphonies
Ludwig van Beethoven: The 9 Symphonies - Arturo Toscanini / NBC Symphony Orchestra
Bruckner: The Complete Symphonies
Strauss: Orchestral Works [Box Set]
Vaughan Williams, The Complete Symphonies

In another original pairing violinist Hilary Hahn brings together the familiar, highly commercial and long-awaited recording of the famous Sibelius Violin Concerto with the rarely performed Violin Concerto by Arnold Schoenberg. Hahn brings out the romantic qualities of Schoenberg's Concerto--known as one of the most difficult pieces in the violin repertoire--showing why it makes an ideal coupling with the Sibelius--"Hahn didn't merely play the notes, she passionately engaged with them." (The Daily Telegraph on a live performance of the Schoenberg Violin Concerto). As both an acclaimed Sibelius interpreter and a known advocate of 20th-century music in concert halls worldwide, Esa-Pekka Salonen is the ideal musical partner in this project. - $9.56
Hilary Hahn ~ Brahms · Stravinsky - Violin Concertos
Paganini: Violin Concerto No. 1; Spohr: Violin Concerto No. 8
Hilary Hahn ~ Beethoven - Violin Concerto · Bernstein - Serenade