Notes and Editorial Reviews
Here we have an almost completely unhackneyed Finnish music
sampler drawn from the Bis back catalogue. It's the sort of
thing handed
out by embassies and at Finnish international conferences. It
is certainly a good ambassador for Suomi even if its dominance
of soothing music might strike some as too much of a good thing.
There are nine Sibelius tracks out of 21. The first has the Jubilate
Choir ringing out the Finlandia chorale as revised by
the composer in 1948. Nordgren's The Whole World will lament is
an string arrangement
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of an earnest and soulful South Ostrobothnian
chorale. It’s just a shade away from a Hovhaness hymn.
Kokkonen's Hades of the Birds is represented by the song In
the world of Perfection. This strange waltz tempo scena is
sung by Monica Groop. Sibelius and Jubilate returnwith May
the Hymn of Honour Now Resound which is graciously curved
rather than assertive. Sibelius's Andantino for brass
is steadily intoned at first but soon suggests a cafe band dance.
The Marche Militaire from Klami’s Suite for Small
Orchestra is flighty and vivacious - a cracking piece of
light music from 1946. Sibelius's A Song for Lemminkainen is
for male choir and orchestra and manages to be both stern and
sensitive with a touch of Karelian cheeriness about it. Rautavaara's
haunting Fiddler suite for string orchestra is his op.
1. It's in five concise movements and at times sounds like a
gently discordant nostalgic Capriol Suite touched with
turbo-baroque at one moment and Shostakovich the next. The
Foxtrot and Tango of the Butterflies from Aho's Symphony
No. 7 Insect Symphony is a rowdy and scatty metropolitan
jazz tango - Bernstein in Helsinki. Sibelius's 1915 Romance for
cello and piano is a suave and smoochy salon piece written for
an undemanding bourgeois mass-market. Just once or twice does
one catch a wraith of the Humoresques but that's it. There’s
the bonus of lovely sustained tone from Torleif Thedéen.
In the same way you can hear Thedéen's intakes of breath
so you can hear the mechnical action of Osmo Vänskä's
clarinet - yes he is also a clarinettist - in the Romanze from
Crusell's Clarinet Quartet No. 1. It's very Mozartean - a poised
serenading cantabile. Folke Gräsbeck was the pianist in
the Sibelius Romance and he also plays the Three Pieces of
1885 on a somewhat clangy piano. Again these are creatures of
the salon though the limping dotty Menuetto is fun. Kokkonen's
1981 Requiem is represented by its Sanctus and Benedictus.
The first is powerfully iterative and has the rhapsodic grandeur
of vocal Tippett but more melodically lush - even ecstatic. Vänskä reappears
for the penultimate track - the Poco vivace from Sibelius's
Symphony No. 6. This is part of his fine Sibelius cycle. His
reading is irate and muscular. We end with Vänskä and
the Lahti orchestra again but this time in Uuno Klami's sparkling
folk overture Suomenlinna. It's a cracking piece with
some patriotically stirring writing in the outer sections of
this substantial item - it would not be surprising if you found
yourself thinking of Sibelius's Karelia Suite. In the
centre Klami's writing is lusciously Straussian mixed with the
Sibelius of the first two symphonies. This is Klami before the
stultifyng influence of his Parisian sojourn bit deep into his
originality and nationalistic impressionism.
-- Rob Barnett, MusicWeb International Read less
Works on This Recording
1.
Finlandia, Op. 26: Hymn by Jean Sibelius
Conductor:
Astrid Riska
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Jubilate Choir
Period: Romantic
Written: 1899-1900; Finland
8.
Fiddlers, Op. 1 by Einojuhani Rautavaara
Conductor:
Jean-Jacques Kantorow
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Tapiola Sinfonietta Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1952/1972; Finland
12.
Pieces (3) for Piano by Jean Sibelius
Performer:
Folke Gräsbeck (Piano)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1885; Finland
15.
Suomenlinna, Op. 30 by Uuno (Kalervo) Klami
Conductor:
Osmo Vänskä
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Lahti Symphony Orchestra
Written: 1940 rewtitten 1944
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