Petri Sakari and the Iceland Symphony Orchestra combine forces here for an inspiring performance of two of Sibelius' more upbeat symphonies, the First and the Third. The seldom-played First Symphony, in E minor, written in 1898, is kind of a loner among Sibelius' longer orchestral works. Unabashedly romantic, it shows virtually none of the almost minimalist feel of the composer's "maturer" symphonies. Here he combines earthy Finnish landscape-tones (symbolized by the lingering solo clarinet at the beginning) with wonderful evocations of the distant Nordic sunlight, all mixed together with fate-charged allusions to fin-de-siecle Vienna and Paris. The Third Symphony, written in the uncharacteristically cheerful key of C major, is an equally interesting work, unique for Sibelius' use of old chorale themes at the center of each movement. The chorales give this music a lovely Renaissance feel at times. The melancholy chorale in the Andantino 2nd movement also evokes some of Tchaikovsky's tenderer, more snow-bedecked, marvelously Mother Russia moments, and Sibelius uses the brass in inspiring fashion throughout this impressive and only occasionally long-winded symphony. Sakari and the Icelanders pull off a great performance in spite of a couple of minor flaws. The conductor highlights the harp and the timpani in the First Symphony, giving this recording a more sparkling and "crackling" feel than some of the better-known ones, but he needs to cut down the tempo and increase the volume in some of the spots where the brass dominates, like Karajan in his acoustically marred recording for EMI.