Rautavaara: Complete Piano Works

Let's start with the "filler", because it's a very interesting one. Rautavaara's The Fiddlers originally was composed as a piano suite, as played here, and later arranged for string orchestra. For this performance, a fine one by Paavali Jumppanen, Pekka Kuusisto offers solo violin versions of the original folk tunes that Rautavaara selected for his suite. The result is fascinating; the tunes are about what you'd expect--robust, folk-fiddle melodies--but Rautavaara extracts a vast amount of variety and emotional nuance from them, using the basic material in often surprising ways. Check out the second tune, Kopsin Jonas, for example, as it enters evocatively in the bass over a swirling treble ostinato. Great stuff!

Rautavaara has composed very little for violin and piano, or (in the case of Variétude) for solo violin. There are mostly occasional works, but they are no less finely crafted for that. The excitingly brief Dithyrambos and Notturno e danza deliver what their titles suggest, while the other pieces are all nostalgic mood-pieces, often very beautiful. The major work here is Lost Landscapes, a four-movement violin sonata in all but name, with each movement offering a portrait of one of the composer's youthful haunts: Tanglewood, Ascona, Rainergasse 11, Vienna, and West 23rd Street, NY.

Kuusisto, as we have every reason to expect, plays very well, with plenty of color in his tone; and as already suggested, Jumppanen also does an excellent job, whether as accompanist or taking over the spotlight. The sonics are generally excellent, well balanced, and perhaps just a bit bright in the violin's upper register. Ondine's Rautavaara recordings really are major additions to the contemporary music scene. This one is no exception.

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

This new releae of music by Eniojuhani Rautavaara, the elder stesman of Finnish music and one the most important composers of our time, featues a divers selection of his pieces. The main here is the world premeire recording of the 1997 on the Last Frontier ofr chorus and orchestra, inspried by the Edgar Allan Poe work of the same name. It's a very rich and accessible workd of lush and beautiful soundscapes, where mysticism and nature are entwined. The Flute Concerto is a moving, exciting piece, well suited to the instrument, and is performed by world famous French flutist Patrick Gallois. An early orchestral composition, Anadyomene, presnts some of Rautavaara's most colorufl writing.

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Hanno Koivula and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra turn in very good performances of these two works. Symphony No. 7, a beautifully luminous piece that has helped to establish Rautavaara's high reputation outside of his native Finland, sounds as lovely as ever in this expertly paced and confidently played rendition. In terms of timings, it falls midway between the premier recording by Segerstam (Ondine) and its slightly leaner immediate successor (Vänskä on BIS), and the bottom line is that there's very little to choose between them. If this performance has any drawbacks, it lies in the somewhat thin sounding violins in the first and third movements, a problem exaggerated by the bright and vivid recorded sound. For this reason Segerstam's recording remains the performance of choice, but only by a hair.


Angels and Visitations presents the composer in a more aggressive mood, a fact that leads some listeners to prefer it to the symphony's melancholy mellowness. Gorgeous string tone is also less of an issue here, and the orchestra's exciting brass and percussion sections make their presence felt to impressive effect. In fact, this coupling offers an excellent overview of Rautavaara's mature style, and even if you own one or all of the previous recordings of this music, you may well want to hear this disc as well. The important point is this: Rautavaara's music rewards the attention, and the fact that large works such as the Symphony enjoy multiple recordings speaks eloquently of their quality and of his importance in today's contemporary music scene. [2/15/2003]
--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

RAUTAVAARA: Thomas

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.


This is a stunning disc. Rautavaara continues to operate at the peak of his form, despite suffering a serious heart attack in mid-composition of Book of Visions that kept him hospitalized for six months. It's a remarkable work in four movements (or "tales") lasting some 40 minutes. Each tale has a tantalizing title (Night, Fire, Love, and Fate) vague enough to leave the specifics to the listener's imagination, but full of musical possibilities that Rautavaara seizes with relish. You might call this new work a "Four Lemminkäinen Legends" for the new millennium, since as always that indefinable Finnish sensibility is quite audibly present but is always expressed in the composer's own personal idiom. The music is gorgeous: evocative, mysterious, luminously scored, and extremely well-crafted--and it practically goes without saying that dedicatee Mikko Franck does a spectacular job conducting this premiere. This is a major statement, make no mistake.

Rautavaara's First Symphony has often been revised, from a four-movement original, down to two movements, and back up to the present three, which, as the composer notes, provides a more balanced sequence than previously. It was written when Prokofiev and Shostakovich were major influences, but with the passing of time the lyricism of the first movement now seems fully characteristic of Rautavaara. Adagio Celeste is yet another example (there are many in Rautavaara) of how music based on a 12-note theme can still be very beautiful and approachable. In this regard he recalls Swiss composer Frank Martin. It's a lovely work scored for small orchestra (the "string orchestra" designation on the tray card is incorrect). Once again the performances of this work and the symphony are all that anyone could ask, and the sonics, whether in stereo or multichannel formats, are fully up to the quality of the interpretations. A knockout, not to be missed!

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

Ondine’s devotion to the music of Einojuhani Rautavaara has been of considerable standing and of great depth. Here we have a disc of highlights of pieces from their catalogue. The only complete works are Cantus arcticus and Apotheosis, though admirers of the composer will know that whilst this last named is a separate work, and one that can be performed in isolation with minor adaptations, it also forms part of the Sixth Symphony.

I’m sure that this neatly selected series of works will whet the appetite of those yet to experience Rautavaara’s music. I think it’s right that if you’re going to present a compact work by him in toto it should be Cantus arcticus, which is one of his most popular. This Concerto for Birds and Orchestra, a beautiful title if ever there was one, evinces all his most personal and vital qualities - string wash of great, indeed magnetic, power and concentration, the quality of melancholy so often encountered in his music, and an accumulation of sound that reaches, at moments, almost a frenzy. For all his reflective qualities he has never been a dormant composer; rather he has managed to unleash moments of great power and energy that seem to have aggregated from the earlier material. Such, certainly, is the trajectory of this work, never for a moment gimmicky, always beautiful and, fortunately, the electronic song is expertly balanced in this recording.

The other works offer interesting perspectives too. The second movement of the Clarinet Concerto is played by the dedicatee Richard Stoltzman, who worked closely with the composer during its composition. Its lyric outpouring is as addictive as the third movement of Autumn Gardens, a nature portrait of powerful verdancy. The first part of Manhattan Trilogy is called Daydreams and its alternation of percussive power and refined lyricism is effectively realised, whereas the third movement of the Third Piano Concerto, called Gift of Dreams, is restless, passionate, bright edged and enshrines some truly portentous moments. Vladimir Ashkenazy plays and directs. The final two pieces are from symphonic works; Apotheosis is rapt and beautiful, whilst the segment from the Sixth Symphony is calm, dreamlike, reflective.

The majority of performances are by the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra under Leif Segerstam. All the performances are special and I hope they will lead appreciative and curious readers to the relevant Ondine box sets that house the symphonies and concertos.

– Jonathan Woolf, MusicWeb International

Rautavaara’s late works continue to reveal the hand of a master with a completely assured technique and a serenely confident personal style. Towards the Horizon, his Cello Concerto No. 2, is an introspective, poetic work cast in large-scale variation form. Like so many modern concertos, its quiet ending may limit its chances of becoming popular in concert, but the quality of the music is never in doubt and the melodic material is truly memorable. Rautavaara’s Percussion Concerto, subtitled “Incantations,” opens with an arresting chorale that returns both at the end of the first movement (sound sample below), and in the work’s final pages. I have often said that percussion concertos, conceptually speaking, are almost impossible to write because of the inherent limitations of the solo instrument(s), especially if (as here) the composer’s style is essentially tonal and melodic. To his credit, Rautavaara apportions the majority of the solo writing to vibraphone and marimba, with contrasting episodes given to untuned percussion. The result, effectively varied timbrally, works very well; even the concluding cadenza fits logically into its place in the finale, and does not outstay its welcome. Time will tell if “the percussion concerto problem,” if you accept that there is one, has been solved definitively. Either way, this is a very enjoyable listen.

Modificata belongs to Rautavaara’s early, twelve-tone period (the late 1950s) and while it’s understandable that he takes pride in some of these early pieces, there is no point in pretending that they are as characterful or successful as his later works. Even here, though, Rautavaara fashions distinctive melodic material for each of the piece’s three movements–the quick finale is particularly exciting and successful. The first movement seems to owe a little something to the first of Berg’s Three Pieces for Orchestra, but especially in this context, it would be difficult to make the case for this music being as expressive and interesting as the two concertos. Still, it’s good to have this audible measure of the distance that Rautavaara has travelled over the course of his career. As with all the releases in Ondine’s ongoing series dedicated to this composer, the performances are excellent. Both concertos are performed by their dedicatees, while the Helsinki Philharmonic under John Storgards does its usual fine job. So, for that matter, do Ondine’s engineers. Very recommendable.

-- ClassicsToday.com

Here we have one of the greatest living composers working in the full inspiration of his mature style, performed and recorded with world-class passion and intensity. It really doesn't get any better. Before the Icons began life as a piano suite in 1955. In creating this orchestral version Rautavaara separated some of the individual numbers with interludes for string orchestra ("Prayers") and added a concluding "Amen". The music is wide-ranging and thoroughly approachable, though never cloying or cheap. Most of the "icon" movements feature the sound of bells as a unifying timbre, though the music isn't at all "churchly" in a conventional sense. It's a moving, even noble work, though it does have its lighter moments (the third movement: "Two Village Saints").

A Tapestry of Life (2007) has four movements lasting a bit more than 24 minutes. The second piece, "Halcyon Days", is stunningly lovely, while the concluding "Final Polonaise" builds to a powerful, ominous close. Each of the four movements is well contrasted and expressively affecting. It's great to have the opportunity to hear this music while it's still new, and as mentioned above the performance by the Helsinki Philharmonic under Leif Segerstam is first rate. If you care even mildly about contemporary music, or just good classical music, you owe it to yourself to hear this disc.

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

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RAUTAVAARA Before the Icons. A Tapestry of Life • Leif Segerstam, cond; Helsinki PO • ONDINE 1149-2 (49:37)


I have to tell you, at the outset of this review, that I moved to this CD immediately after reading Jack Reilly’s book The Harmony of Bill Evans, Vol. 2 (reviewed elsewhere in this issue) and listening to the accompanying CD, and that I found a great many similarities—more so than differences.


Einojuhan Rautavaara, who many probably do not know is the son of one of the greatest Mozart sopranos of the early 20th century (Aulikki, who sang the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro on the old Glyndebourne recording conducted by Fritz Busch), has always written music in an amorphic style in which mood is as important as form. These works are no exception, and by doing so he allies his sparse melodic structures to the very sort of underlying density in chord progressions that were the heart of Bill Evans’s jazz pieces.


Before the Icons spans a full half-century of composition. Rautavaara wrote a set of six impressions on Byzantine icons for piano in 1955, immediately planned to orchestrate them, but did not get around to it until 2005! At that time, he wrote three “prayers” to go between the icons, scored for strings to reflect the voice of the individual. Some of the iconic pieces are agitated, powerful music, particularly the first ( The Death of the Mother of God ) and last ( Archangel Michael Fighting the Antichrist ), but not always, while the prayers are gentle and reflective. As usual, it’s a fascinating piece, and if he hadn’t revealed its genesis, one would have a hard time imaging a half-century between its two parts.


A Tapestry of Life is based on various poems or stories that influenced him. Again, as the music is impressionistic, it transcends the words to produce a feeling rather than a narrative. “Stars Swarming” was inspired by a poem by Edith Södergran, a surrealistic nightly vision where stars keep falling in the garden until the lawn is full of splinters. “Halcyon Days” uses the simple, monotonous repetition of a triplet, which gives rise to a slowly ascending cantabile melody (shades of Bill Evans again). Rautavaara’s coloristic effects derive from his very French-based style of orchestration overlaid on his Finnish musical sensibilities.


I’ve been a fan of Leif Segerstam since the early 1970s and saw him conduct both La Bohème at the Metropolitan Opera and his own works with the Cincinnati Symphony. For the life of me, I don’t understand why he is so undervalued (or, more often, ignored) as a conductor, as I consider him one of the greatest of the 20th century, but particularly in this music he gives his best because his own sensibilities are very close to Rautavaara’s. I urge you to get this record. It is a wonderful souvenir of both composer and conductor.


FANFARE: Lynn René Bayley

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Rautavaara, E.: Symphonies Nos. 1-3

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Triple Feature.

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Aleksis Kivi, who died in 1872 at the age of only 38, is Finland's national writer, the first notable author of plays, poetry and novels in the Finnihs language.

MARJATTA THE LOWLY MAIDEN (WOR

Although piano music occupies a side position in Rautavaara’s vast output, his works for this instrument throw an interesting light on his stylistic evolution. If the Icons and the Partita from the mid-1950s stick to a bold neo-classical writing, the Preludes from the same period resort to a more personal atonal idiom, peppered with harsh dissonances and nervous rhythms. Written in 1969, the kaleidoscopic Etudes, each one based on a different interval, look back a good 50 years, precisely to Debussy’s unapproachable set of Etudes, and perhaps to Messiaen–not absurdly, as the latter is another highly religious composer, akin to Rautavaara’s own personal feeling. The two Piano Sonatas bring the spiritual inspiration a step further. Subtitled respectively “Christus und die Fischer” and “The Fire Sermon”, they combine rich harmonies and motoric rides with almost figurative patterns. Despite the late composition date (1970), the Second Sonata brings out a strong romantic feeling, culminating in the dramatic Andante assai. Laura Mikkola possesses the technical skills required by this demanding music, as well as an ear sensitive to the subtlest harmonic aura. The recording is a bit over-resonant, but truthful to the piano timbre.

– ClassicsToday

The passing away of Einojuhani Rautavaara (1928–2016), one of the most performed Finnish composers after Sibelius, left a deep void in the field of Finnish contemporary music. This new album by cellist Tanja Tetzlaff and pianist Gunilla Süssmann includes Rautavaara’s rarely heard works written for cello and piano. The cornerstone of Rautavaara’s cello chamber music are the three sonatas. The earliest of the sonatas was written in 1969 and contains Baroque influences. Prior to this, the composer had already written Two Preludes and Fugues for cello and piano in 1955 firmly rooted in the Neo-Classical tradition as a young student. Soon after completing his solo cello sonata, the composer started writing his Neo-Romantic Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 1. However, the work was left unfinished and completed almost 30 years later, in 2001. Cello Sonata No. 2, completed in 1991, is much different in style, more modern and edgy, but based on a work written for a cello music competition in 1975. Polska (1977) for two cellos and piano is based on a folk tune from Rantasalmi. The origin of this work is connected to the genesis of Rautavaara’s first published opus, Fiddlers (Pelimannit) from the early 1950s. Song of My Heart (Sydämeni laulu) is the composer’s transcription from an aria included in his opera Aleksis Kivi (1995–96). In 2000, Rautavaara arranged the piece for cello, and fittingly for this funereal piece dedicated it to the memory of Estonian composer Lepo Sumera.

REVIEW:

As a mind-blowing display of technical accomplishment, I can only offer my congratulations to Tanja Tetzlaff who has a gorgeous Guadagnini cello of 1776 and an outstanding long-term piano partner in Gunilla Sussmann. Very good recorded quality and most highly recommended.

– David's Review Corner (David Denton)

The service of the Orthodox Church known as the All-Night Vigil has attracted many composers. Famous settings exist of parts or all of the service by Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov among others. The service encompasses Vespers and Matins--the portions recorded here--interspersed with assorted prayers and chants. Among the traditions of the Orthodox Church are the complete absence of instruments, so for the music to be usable in a liturgical context it must all be for unaccompanied voices. In order to combat any potential monotony of sound, Rautavaara has deployed five soloists heard in various combinations with the large mixed choir that makes up the foundation of the music.

Rautavaara's music is audibly within the traditions of the Orthodox Church while retaining the stylistic traits common to his secular music. Although his rhythmic and harmonic usage ranges farther afield than might be associated with such music, actual traditional Slavic folk and liturgical music is rhythmically quite complex and startlingly dissonant, with much use made of seconds and sevenths. That said, little here would disturb any but the most conservative listener, and there is much of great beauty. The sound produced by the soloists and chorus is gorgeous.

REVIEWS:

BBC Music (5/98, p.59) - Performance: 5 (out of 5), Sound: 5 (out of 5) - "...If the prospect of an all-night vigil sung unaccompanied in Finnish doesn't enthrall you, don't worry: you're not alone. But give this disc a try, if you can: it delivers far more than it promises.

Apotheosis (1996) is a revision of the final movement from Rautavaara’s Sixth Symphony (1992), which was the symphonic reworking of music from the opera Vincent, hence the subtitle ‘Vincentiana’. The instrumentation lacks the synthesizer that evokes the paintings of the Dutch master in the opera, but the musical substance is intact.

Consisting of three movements—Daydreams, Nightmares and Dawn—Manhattan Trilogy (2004) does not constitute a symphonic piece as such. Its slow-fast-slow sequence equates to classical precedent, while the thematic working and textural elaboration follow directly from the composer’s practice in his last four symphonies.

Subtitled ‘The Journey’, the Eighth Symphony (1999) pursues its metamorphosis of ideas in ways similar to those of his previous three symphonies, but here the order of movements is nearly Classical; pointedly so in the second and third, whose contrast is emphasized by a lack of pause between movements.

The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, founded in 1946, is the country’s leading professional orchestra. It has an establishment of ninety players and performs over 100 concerts annually. They tour extensively within their own country.

Music Director of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra Pietari Inkinen is one of the most exciting talents of the new generation of conductors. He has collaborated with major orchestras and with soloists such as Vadim Repin, Hilary Hahn, and Pinchas Zukerman. His recording with the Bavarian Chamber Philharmonic has received outstanding reviews and was voted the BBC Music Magazine’s recording of the month.

The most wonderful thing about Rautavaara's songs is that no matter what the technical basis of his compositional method, he understands that "song" means an evocative text set to a singable melody. You may not go away humming all of the tunes here, particularly in the brief, powerful, and oddly disturbing cycle God's Way (to poems by Bo Setterlind), but there's no questioning the fundamental rightness of Rautavaara's reaction to the words, or his ability to project his feelings into an expressive vocal line. That's not something to be taken for granted nowadays, when grateful and effective writing for the voice is no longer the basis of most composers' techniques, whether writing for people or for instruments.

The remaining four sets of songs on this disc all employ texts of the highest quality, by Shakespeare (in English, by the way), Rilke, and Finnish poet Aleksis Kivi. The Rilke settings are particularly moving, nowhere more so than The Lovers, whose third song, "Woman Loving", ought to be a recital classic by now. The three songs taken from the opera Aleksis Kivi also deserve to find a life of their own away from the larger work. They stand among the most hauntingly beautiful of Rautavaara's latest creations. Baritone Gabriel Suovanen sings all of this music with warm tone and great musical intelligence, and he couldn't be better accompanied than by Segerstam and the Helsinki Philharmonic. Ideally balanced sound rounds out this most enticing picture of Rautavaara's generously lyrical art.

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com