Sibelius: Symphonies Nos. 1, 2, 4, and 5; Boston Symphony Orchestra, Colin Davis

"In 1967 he succeeded Malcolm Sargent as chief conductor of the BBC Symphony. And in 1971 he followed Georg Solti as music director at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. ... When he left in 1986, his going wasn’t universally lamented. And amid a barrage of unkind press commentary, he disappeared — or so it seemed — to lick his wounds abroad, pursuing relationships with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Dresden Staatskapelle. In fact he never really left Britain. ... He turned down several job offers in the United States. And he appeared from time to time in London concerts, but invariably as a distant eminence with a dubious past until, in 1992, he was engaged by the London Symphony to conduct a Sibelius cycle at the Barbican. Sibelius, whose Second Symphony and Violin Concerto Mr. Davis will conduct at Avery Fisher Hall on Wednesday, has always been a cause for him: he has recorded the symphonies three times" (Michael White, "A Maestro Reflects, and Knits," New York Times, 10/14/11).
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