Sibelius - Symphony 1 [Ashkenazy-Philharmonia Orchestra] After the 2nd Symphony, the 1st is the one i like the next best, in fact it may sound strange admitting this, but i've probably listened to the 2nd as many times as all his other Symphonies put together!, my feelings are that on the whole Sibelius started out excellent, then slowly got poorer as his Symphonic oeuvre progressed, in the end he packed up shop thirty years before his death.
Vladimir Ashkenazy is Russian, now 73 years old, he now seems to be releasing new discs on the Exton Label, this is a box set of the seven Symphonies on 4 discs, recorded in the early to mid eighties for Decca.
On this listen, i found the Third movement Scherzo really thrilling, e
Here's Vladimir Ashkenazy conducting the third movement on YouTube.
