Notes and Editorial Reviews
"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
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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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Works on This Recording
1.
Valse Lente by Oskar Merikanto
Performer:
Jouni Somero (Piano)
Period: Romantic
Written: Finland
3.
Elegia by Edith Sohlström
Performer:
Jouni Somero (Piano)
5.
Häämarssi by Toivo Kuula
Performer:
Jouni Somero (Piano)
Period: Post-Romantic
Written: 1908
7.
Pankakoski by Heino Kaski
Performer:
Jouni Somero (Piano)
9.
Walamo by Heino Kaski
Performer:
Jouni Somero (Piano)
10.
Preludi Ges by Heino Kaski
Performer:
Jouni Somero (Piano)
11.
Hämärässä by Armas Maasalo
Performer:
Jouni Somero (Piano)
12.
Adieu by Armas Maasalo
Performer:
Jouni Somero (Piano)
13.
Amie by Armas Maasalo
Performer:
Jouni Somero (Piano)
15.
Valsette by Armas Maasalo
Performer:
Jouni Somero (Piano)
16.
Polka by Armas Maasalo
Performer:
Jouni Somero (Piano)
17.
Aquarelle by Carl Hirn
Performer:
Jouni Somero (Piano)
18.
Goldfisch by Carl Hirn
Performer:
Jouni Somero (Piano)
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