BIS is finally packaging together in individual boxes the various releases in its complete Sibelius edition, topping them off with whatever has yet to appear. This 6-CD set, offered for the price of three discs, contains some of the composer's earliest and least-known music (aside from the mature quartet Voces Intimae). While many of these works may not sound much like the Sibelius we know from the Kullervo Symphony onward, there is a lot of good music here worth discovering, including several string quartets, a fine Piano Quartet, and perhaps most interestingly of all, the "Korpo" and "Lovisa" piano trios (dating from 1887 and 1888 respectively).

The former work might well be counted as the major statement of Sibelius' early years, and it deserves to be much better known. The performances, some of which already have been reviewed by CT.com, are uniformly excellent, the sonics equally so. Not the least of this edition's attractions comes in the form of very informative and intelligent booklet notes by Andrew Barnett, whose biography of the composer will be published this year. Certainly if you've been waiting to collect the complete edition conveniently and affordably, this is the way to go.

--David Hurwitz