An Anthology Of Finnish Piano Music, Vol. 2

"Volume 2 - nails its colours to the mast with its title, Morceaux de Salon. That said there are a few pieces here that transcend the genre. Oskar Merikanto is frank about his tremulous and really lovely Valse à la Chopin. Well worth tracking down. The Valse Lente is also touching. We need to hear more from this composer. He's not specially original but what he does is superbly carried off thanks to Somero. The pieces by Sohlstrom, von Kothen, Saarenpaa are also rather nice and tend towards soliloquy and forest pools. Kuula has recently benefited from a stunning Dutton CD (CDLX7272) of his orchestral music and these two unassuming mood-pieces show his leaning towards impressionistic textures. Heino Kaski's Symphony was broadcast Read more on BBC Radio 3's Through the Night programme not so long ago (did anyone get a recording - I missed it and would love to hear it) and Ian Lace, whose judgement is very sound, rated it highly. Kaski's four piano solos are written in a Rachmaninovian vein with the Pankakoski furiously and stormily impressive. Superb! The little pieces by Armas Maasalo are fragile album-leaves in the manner, but not the language, of Schumann - long on charm but not profound. Hirn's glistering Goldfisch might be thought of as a sort of Lisztian equivalent of Scott's Rainbow Trout. In fact the nicely tentative Aquarelle places him much closer to Scott - at least at first though Sinding might be a better parallel. The five Krohn works are placid character pieces - a little step forward from the smaller genre miniatures by Macdowell. Ilmari Hannikainen is represented by the thoughtful but forgettable Keskustelu."

-- Rob Barnett, MusicWeb International
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1. Valse Lente by Oskar Merikanto

Performer: Jouni Somero (Piano)
Period: Romantic
Written: Finland

2. Valse à la Chopin by Oskar Merikanto