Over the course of his life, Einojuhani Rautavaara's work has developed like a microcosm of the history of music since 1950. His break with the bonds of serialism and a commitment to his own unique ideals were of crucial importance to his international reputation - a courageous step that manifested itself in unmistakeable creations. Rautavaara demands extreme intimacy and immediate, vivid empathy from his listeners, but rewards them with a spiritual wealth that leaves an indelible impression. The 50-year old violin concerto with it's delicate reminiscences of Sibelius, the poignant declaration of love in the Serenade from the year of his death, 2016, and his beautiful Autumn Gardens written just before the turn of the millennium are impressive examples of his intelligibility and are for good reason the most often performed works of the Finnish master.

Rautavaara: Complete Piano Works

One of the more fascinating issues in RCA/BMG's Catalyst series is a disc devoted to Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara (b. 1928). After studies with leading native composers, Rautavaara was selected by 90-year old Sibelius as the winner of a scholarhip from the Koussevitzky Foundation to study in the U.S. Listening to Rautavaara's music one would never suspect that he studied with Vincent Persichetti and Roger Sessions at Juilliard, and with Aaron Copland at Tanglewood. He has written several operas, chamber music, seven symphonies, and many works for solo voices and chorus.

The featured music on this CD is Cantus Arcticus, written in 1972. This strange 17-minute work is called "Concerto for Birds and Orchestra," combining the recorded sounds of wild birds with the sound of a symphony orchestra. It is an oddly haunting work of quiet, evocative power, with a dark mystic quality that suggests the bleak Nordic climate. There are three sections: The Bog, Melancholy, and Swans Migrating. It is a fascinating score; the pre-recorded sounds of birds are compelling listening, which cannot be said of the other two works on this CD, the String Quartet No. 4, composed in 1975, a three-movement, meditative 22-minute work in which Rautavaara on purpose has limited the scope of the music. Not much happens here to stimulate the listener in spite of the fine performance by the Sirius Quartet, but a lot happens in the other work, Symphony No. 5, written in 1986, a 31-minute, one-movement symphony with enormous percussive, dissonant climaxes disturbing the over-all bleak aural picture. For this listener, it lacks an overall focus that would merit repeated listening. The two orchestral works are beautifully played by the Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra directed by Max Pommer. The recordings were licensed from the Finnish label, Ondine, and sound just as good on RCA/BMG. The prime interest here is Cantus Articus; the CD is worth having just for that strange, mystic work.

-- Robert Benson, Classicalcdreview.com

Okay, the Ballade for Harp and String Orchestra technically isn't a concerto, but who's counting? Rautavaara's concertos are arguably more consistent and representative than his symphonies. The First Piano Concerto, the earliest work here, exudes the sort of spiky Finno-Russian neoclassicism that we find in Englund and Shostakovich, but from the Second Piano Concerto on Rautavaara is very much his own man, and every one of these pieces, even the relatively gnarly concertos for organ and double bass, are well worth getting to know. Several strike me as flat-out masterpieces, including the Second and Third Piano Concertos, the Violin Concerto, the Harp Concerto, and of course Cantus Arcticus for taped birds and orchestra.

Furthermore, the performances are all first rate, from Ralf Gothóni and Vladimir Ashkenazy in the piano concertos, to Elmar Oliveira, Richard Stolzman, and Patrick Gallois in the concertos for violin, clarinet, and flute, respectively. The orchestral accompaniments leave nothing to be desired either, and the engineering is uniformly excellent. All of these works have appeared previously in Ondine's Rautavaara edition where many have been reviewed in detail at CT.com, but coupling them this way makes an ideal introduction to the composer and his special sound world. I just hope this set, which inevitably has a retrospective feel to it, doesn't mean that Rautavaara will not continue to produce symphonic works and concertos despite the ill-health he has suffered recently. By all means, indulge!

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

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.

Einojuhani Rautavaara is one of the most original and accessible composers of the second half of the 20th century. His music has a deep romanticism to it, yet he often uses twelve-tone and atonal constructs as an integral part of the process.
The First Piano Concerto is a very strong work, and though very original, seems descended from the colors of Debussy, the broadness of Tchaikovsky and the harmonic contours of Sibelius. The piano writing is full, rich and virtuosic, pitting the soloist against the forces of the orchestra. This is a work that truly deserves to be a part of the standard repertory.
The Third Symphony employs much of the same power, but adds the grandeur and religiosity of Bruckner at the opening. At its weakest, some of the orchestral colors and motifs seem borrowed and melodramatic, but it is an immediately accessible work which opposes the formalist academic tradition.
'Cantus Articus' is the strangest work on this recording. Subtitled a "Concerto for birds and orchestra," this work features recorded Arctic birdsong, not just as background, but as the featured element. Unfortunately, anyone who has seen Hitchcock's THE BIRDS recently will find 'Cantus Articus' more than a little creepy!

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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

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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