Englund's Fifth Symphony, while written in a much more serious vein (the composer claimed that the work embodies memories of the Second World War), stands as the most impressive single-movement work of its type since Sibelius' Seventh. While written from an entirely different stylistic perspective, the piece has a similar organic coherence, every note growing inexorably out of the instantly memorable opening melodic gestures. Englund effortlessly sustains the music's intensity without ever overdoing the orchestral violence, and the elegiac ending arrives with the inevitability of fate. How is it that we have had to wait so long for this first recording?

The Fourth Symphony, on the other hand, already has enjoyed two previous outings on disc, though this new version eclipses them all. The clock sounds of its mechanical second movement, marked "Tempus fugit" (Time Flies), simultaneously recall Shostakovich (in the strings and percussion scoring), Penderecki (in the music's machine-tooled precision), and Bartók, without really sounding like anyone other than Englund himself. This marvelous score richly deserves all the exposure it can get, and not only do Eri Klas and the Tampere Philharmonic offer performances as gripping, cogent, and virtuosic as the music ideally demands (and make no mistake, Englund was one of the 20th century's masters at writing for orchestra), Ondine has captured them in stunningly realistic, impactful sound. Don't miss this extraordinary recording by any means!

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com