24-10-2011 - Finnish Composers

[french frank]

1/5. Founding Fathers: Donald Macleod focuses on the music of two of the earliest composers in Finland - Bernhard Crusell and Frederick Pacius
2/5. Towards Independence: The role of music in the nationalist movement in Finland.
3/5. The Kalevala: Music inspired by the Finnish national epic.
4/5. Opening Windows to Europe: The music of some of those reacting against Sibelius's influence.
5/5. Finnish Composers and the Natural World: The importance of landscape, darkness and light.

[Roehre]

A nice couple of hardly known pieces, especially looking forward to Kuula (tomorrow) and Klami (wednesday)

[french frank]

A nice couple of hardly known pieces, especially looking forward to Kuula (tomorrow) and Klami (wednesday)

I have a single CD of Uuno Klami (1900-1961): Works for piano and string orchestra

Concerto for piano and strings, Op 41
Hommage à Haendel, Op 21
For Finnish Folk Songs (arr. Klami), Op 12

I see the liner notes say: "Although he belonged to a group of young Modernists who generally provoked a mixed response ...". My tastes must be refining somewhat as I didn't hear him in that way!

(Thanks - if you did - for clicking on my links: it takes about 20 minutes to enter the text and add the links to the separate pages, which is why I don't always find time to get it done . Volunteers welcome to do this small job each week )

[Thomas Roth]

You really should try to find a copy of Klami´s "Psalmus". A masterpiece! And the second symphony, "Blackbird" by Einar Englund. And so I could go on ...

[Serial_Apologist]

Very surprised indeed that Joonas Kokkonen has not been included - a pretty central figure in Finland compared with several of the others, I would have thought.

http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joonas_Kokkonen

[Suffolkcoastal]

I agree about Kokkonen. I have a number of works by him, Madetoja, Klami, Kuula & Englund in my collection. I also find Englund a very fine composer (I have all his symphonies). Then amongst living Finnish masters in particular we have Aho, Rautavaara and Sallinen.

[Panjandrum]

One of the Radio 3 producers, Graeme, on its Facebook page has asked listeners for their recommendations from this week's COTW schdule. Seems like an ideal opportunity to showcase your encyclopaedic knowledge SC!

[Roehre]

I agree about Kokkonen. I have a number of works by him, Madetoja, Klami, Kuula & Englund in my collection. I also find Englund a very fine composer (I have all his symphonies). Then amongst living Finnish masters in particular we have Aho, Rautavaara and Sallinen.

Agreeing immediately re Kokkonen and Englund. Kuula is one of those composers who could have changed the music history of his country were he not killed at such an early age under never fully cleared circumstances during the Finnish Civil War in the immediate aftermath of the Russian Revolution.
I am not so sure about Aho, but I do keep Rautavaara and especially Sallinen in high esteem.
(and the "scandal" engulfing Klami following Sea Pictures [1928] is a nice one )

[Byas'd Opinion]

I've enjoyed the couple of programmes of this I've heard so far, particularly the Kuula and Madetoja pieces.

I thought that several of the pieces, both by them and by Klami, have been a bit reminiscent of early romantic Sibelius but still had a sound of their own. In particular, the main theme of the last movement of Klami's Kalevala Suite was very like one of Sibelius's tunes, although I can't quite place which one at the moment. Pohjola's Daughter?

Was Sibelius a direct influence on the others, or are the similarities simply indicative of a shared musical and linguistic heritage?

It's a pity the Rautavaara on Friday is the Cantus Arcticus: it's his only well-known composition and I'd like to hear some of his other pieces for a change. On the other hand, I don't know the Saariaho work in the programme, so I'll be interested to hear that. I've been very impressed by the pieces by her I have heard.

[Roehre]

change in scheduled programme of today's CotW Finnish composers

For those interested:

today's broadcast CotW was different from the programme as published:

From Madetoja's 3rd symphony only the scherzo

then Merikanto's 1928 Symphonic Study,
followed by Sallinen's Introduction and Tango (as published)

and a piano piece by Heininen.

Tonight between 6.30 and 7.30 the repeat.

[Simon]

For me, a longtime fan of CotW and Donald, this has been one of the most interesting and instructive week's I've ever been fortunate enough to catch. Well done R3. Sadly I didn't catch it all, but hey, there's LA!!

[meles]

Thoroughly enjoyed the series. Heard some music new to me that I enjoyed. Reminded me of Radio 3 in the good old days...