Leevi Madetoja composed his magnificent Second Symphony in 1918, during the time of the Finnish Civil War. The music begins in pastoral tranquility with hints of the struggle to come. The slow second movement features cadenzas for offstage oboe and horn, growing organically in two large waves. Then violence breaks out in the war-like third movement, which also serves as a sort of development for the entire work, before a resigned epilog brings the work to a quiet close. Madetoja was a born symphonist. The very opening of the work features a motive that immediately begins to develop (sound clip), moving from breezy calm in the strings to ominous foreboding in the winds. You can tell in the first thirty seconds that the composer has total control over his material, and where he wants to go with it.

The symphony is roughly contemporaneous with Sibelius’ Fifth, and so reveals that Finnish music had more going on in the first decades of the 20th century than just its most famous composer. Consider also Kullervo, a tone poem lasting about a quarter of an hour, dates from 1913. It packs quite a punch. While not sounding quite as primal as Sibelius’ Kalevala-inspired works, it has plenty of the necessary epic feel, and it rises to a remarkably scored climax in which castanets and tambourine are used in a most unusual, threatening way to create a powerful feeling of frenzy. The Elegy (1909) is exactly what is claims to be: a gently sad, brief movement for string orchestra. It makes a touching encore.

Given their (undeserved) obscurity, both the tone poem and the symphony have enjoyed a small handful of recordings, but none that top this outstanding release. John Storgards is an excellent conductor, and he has the Helsinki Philharmonic maintaining the high standards set by his predecessor, Leif Segerstam. The performances are just about perfect in all respects: totally idiomatic, committed, passionate, and immaculately played. There isn’t a dull second, and he’s exceptionally well recorded. On evidence here the orchestra’s new home, the Helsinki Music Center, is a good place to record, certainly better than the old Finlandia Hall. A great release.

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com