Jouni Kaipainen (b. 1956) is one of the finest amongst the younger generations of Finnish composers. His music characteristically displays an engaging and remarkable fusion of diatonicism within a sound-world of serial complexity reflecting the impact of the two principal mentors from his youth: Aulis Sallinen and Paavo Heininen. But Kaipainen has steadily developed away from both of them to forge his own style. This can be heard already in his First Symphony (1980-85) and Clarinet Concerto, Carpe diem! (1990). The single-span structure of Symphony No. 1 retained remarkable spontaneity despite taking six years to perfect. Its successor, outwardly more conventional in three movements, had less protracted birth pangs and is an even more impressive achievement, perhaps the finest Finnish symphony since Rautavaara’s Fifth (1986). Admirers of Sibelius’s architectonic instinct will find much to like here, even if at times Kaipainen sounds rather closer in spirit to Karl Amadeus Hartmann.

The other two pieces also date from 1994. Sisyphus Dreams is basically a tone-poem, alternating black moods with hopeful quietude. The splendid Oboe Concerto is outwardly of a lighter disposition than the symphony but highly virtuosic, delivered with breathtaking aplomb by its dedicatee, Helen Jahren. When in Finland last November I heard some very indifferent playing (in the Sibelius Violin Concerto) from the Finnish Radio orchestra under Sakari Oramo; their playing in all three items here is of a much higher order. Very strongly recommended.

-- Gramophone [3/1996]

“The first thing to be said is that there is nothing in the symphony to remind one of Sibelius.” So opines Helena Tyrvainen in her notes on Uuno Klami’s First Symphony (1937-8), but for many listeners even the most casual acquaintance will suggest quite the contrary. Granted the form and structure of Klami’s work has little to do with any of Sibelius’s seven, even the First with which it shares an awareness of nineteenth-century Russian symphonism. Klami adopts a lyric, non-epic approach, closer in spirit to Melartin’s earlier symphonies, or even Madetoja. None the less, the language is reminiscent of Sibelius, even to the use of pulsing horn chords and pedals, and brought to my mind the minor tone-poems and incidental music, for instance the Dance Intermezzo or Swanwhite. That said, there are as many traces of Russian music (rather more dear to Klami’s heart), and in the finale a passage that would not be out of place in Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet.

Klami was a noted exponent of neo-classicism, but you would scarcely know that from either the symphony or the later King Lear Overture (1944-5; the third piece Klami composed on this Shakespearean subject). I am not sure I would have guessed the subject from the music, which has a generally tragic-dramatic atmosphere. The performances and recording are both splendid; a valuable addition to the catalogue."

-- Gramophone [3/1996]

REVIEW:

Of all the Finnish successors to Sibelius, Uuno Klami (1900-61) followed most closely in the master’s footsteps, both in idiom and in finding inspiration in the national epic, the Kalevala. Several discs of his music have already appeared, but this is the premiere recording of these two symphonies. No. 2 is a powerfully sombre wartime work full of engaging melodic and harmonic ideas: the long opening movement has a strong Sibelian dramatic momentum. The more impressionistic Symphonie enfantine dates from 1928 and reflects a year of study in Paris earlier in the decade. The Tampere orchestra is a fine ensemble, with a full bodied string sound, biting brass and refined woodwind, all caught with richness by Ondine’s sound engineering.
Performance: ****
Sound: ****

-- Matthew Rye, BBC Music Magazine

Prokofiev, S.: Symphony-Concerto in E Minor / Merikanto, A.:

1. Kun joulu on/Christmas is Come 2:29
2. Mökit nukkuu lumiset/Snowbound Cottages Sleep 3:50
3. Jouluyö, juhlayö/Silent Night, Holy Night 3:01
4. Heinillä härkien kaukalon/There in the Hay of the Ox's Stall 3:37
5. Jul, jul strålande jul/Yule, Yule, Radiant Yule 3:44
6. Betlehems stjärna/Star of Bethlehem 3:43
7. Marie Wiegenlied/Maria's Lullaby 2:15
8. Arkihuolesi kaikki heitä/Cast off Thy Everyday Cares 1:49
9. Taas kaikki kauniit muistot 2:25
10. Sylvian joululaulu/Sylvia's Carol 2:47
11. Ja neitsyt pikku poijuttansa/The Virgin Rocks Her Baby Boy 1:40
12. Te lapsoset, lapsoset kiiruhtakaa/Hurry, Children 3:42
13. Varpunen jouluaamuna/A Sparrow on Christmas Morning 3:52
14. Kristuslapsen kehtolaulu/The Christchild's Lullaby 3:49
15. Schlafendes Jesuskind/The Sleeping Christchild 3:04
16. Nun wandre Maria/Make Your Way, Maria 2:43
17. O Jesulein süß/O Little Jesus 2:54
18. Ave Maria/Hail Mary 2:37

Monica Groop, mezzosoprano
Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra
Sympaatti Youth Choir

Markus Lehtinen, conductor

KLAMI, U.: Lemminkainen's Adventures on an Island / The Cobb

Kurtag, G.: Kafka-Fragmente (Kafka Fragments)

Heinio, M.: Piano Concerto No. 6, "Hermes" / In G

SOCIETY OF FINNISH COMPOSERS 5

FINNISH ORCHESTRAL FAVOURITES

Nordgren, P.H.: Symphony for Strings / Hate-Love / Transe-Ch

Shostakovich, D.: Piano Trio No. 2 / Piano Quintet, Op. 57

Heininen, P.: Jeu I / Discantus I / Salonen, E.: Yta I / Mer

BRAHMS: DIE SCH?NE MAGALONE H

SZYMANOWSKI, K.: Violin and Piano Music (Complete)