I bought Koussevitzky's amazing CD of Sib's 7th and it fully lived up to its reputation, but I was very underwhelmed by his CD of Symphonies 2 and 5, especially 2, which I found sluggish in the extreme ; also the recording was quite clearly inferior to the 1933 7th, apparently because older technology was used on this 1935/36 recording of 2 and 5.
Which just goes to show ....... you can only trust your own ears

Martin, I certainly share your enthusiasm for Koussevitsky's Sibelius 7 recorded with the BBC S.O. when this was new music. I can also understand your luke warm response to No's 2 and 5. Fashions change of course and as you rightly point out, the sound quality could be better. Certainly Koussevitsky's 'Tapiola' [1939] is on a par with the seventh Symphony, chilling in intensity.--kp

hangos wrote:

you can only trust your own ears

Yep. That's why I gave up buying the review magazines years ago - and I don't feel that I have missed out on any great insights as a result of not relying on other people's opinions (if you'll excuse a tortuous sentence - mention of critics bring out a tendency to use negatives, a case of grammar imitating life perhaps).