Santtu-Matias Rouvali & GSO - Sibelius: Symphony No. 2, King Christian II - The Sunday Times

A work written on as epic a scale as Sibelius’s Second Symphony can easily seem to sprawl, but thanks to conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali’s overall shaping and a rhythmic precision that nevertheless leaves the composer’s characteristically fluid phrases intact, the Gothenburg players’ performance, beautifully balanced and characterfully coloured, is powerfully cogent. With its ravishing second movement Elégie, the King Christian II Suite, taken from music Sibelius wrote for Adolf Paul’s 1898 play, makes an eiective filler.