Sallinen: Songs Of Life And Death, The Iron Age Suite

$19.99
Label
Ondine
Release Date
December 24, 2008
Format
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    Featuring ⌄
    • COMPOSER
      SALLINEN, AULIS
    • ORCHESTRA / ENSEMBLE
      Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Opera Festival Chorus
    • PERFORMER
      Okko, Kamu
    Product Details ⌄
    • RELEASE DATE
      December 24, 2008
    • UPC
      761195084427
    • CATALOG NUMBER
      ODE844
    • LABEL
      Ondine
    • NUMBER OF DISCS
      1
    • GENRE
      Orchestral & Symphonic
    Works ⌄

    1. No. 1. Kuin tulvavesi elamani paivat (Like Floodwaters the Days of My Life)

      Composer: Aulis Sallinen

      Ensemble: Opera Festival Chorus, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra

      Performer: Jorma Hynninen

      Conductor: Okko Kamu

    2. No. 2. Me vaellamme taalla (We Wander Here)

      Composer: Aulis Sallinen

      Ensemble: Opera Festival Chorus, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra

      Performer: Jorma Hynninen

      Conductor: Okko Kamu

    3. No. 3. Mina, syntymation (I, Unborn)

      Composer: Aulis Sallinen

      Ensemble: Opera Festival Chorus, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra

      Performer: Jorma Hynninen

      Conductor: Okko Kamu

    4. No. 4. Tuba mirum

      Composer: Aulis Sallinen

      Ensemble: Opera Festival Chorus, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra

      Performer: Jorma Hynninen

      Conductor: Okko Kamu

    5. No. 5. Voin ajatella sinun lahteneen (I Can Think You Departed)

      Composer: Aulis Sallinen

      Ensemble: Opera Festival Chorus, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra

      Performer: Jorma Hynninen

      Conductor: Okko Kamu

    6. No. 6. Dies irae

      Composer: Aulis Sallinen

      Ensemble: Opera Festival Chorus, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra

      Performer: Jorma Hynninen

      Conductor: Okko Kamu

    7. No. 7. Kun viela olet talla rannalla (While You Are Still on This Shore)

      Composer: Aulis Sallinen

      Ensemble: Opera Festival Chorus, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra

      Performer: Jorma Hynninen

      Conductor: Okko Kamu

    8. No. 8. Ella taytta elamaa (Live a Full Life)

      Composer: Aulis Sallinen

      Ensemble: Opera Festival Chorus, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra

      Performer: Jorma Hynninen

      Conductor: Okko Kamu

    9. I. Ilmarin ja Kultanaisen haakulkue (The Wedding Procession of Ilmari and the Golden Woman)

      Composer: Aulis Sallinen

      Ensemble: Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra

      Conductor: Okko Kamu

    10. II. Ainon laulu (The Song of Aino)

      Composer: Aulis Sallinen

      Ensemble: Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra

      Conductor: Okko Kamu

    11. III. Lemminki Pohjolassa (Lemminki in Pohjola)

      Composer: Aulis Sallinen

      Ensemble: Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra

      Conductor: Okko Kamu

    12. IV. Lemminki hiihtaa Hiiden hirven (Lemminki Hunts the Devil's Elk)

      Composer: Aulis Sallinen

      Ensemble: Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra

      Conductor: Okko Kamu

    13. V. Lemminki Tuonelassa (Lemminki in Tuonela)

      Composer: Aulis Sallinen

      Ensemble: Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra

      Conductor: Okko Kamu

    14. VI. Vainon soitto (Vaino's Song)

      Composer: Aulis Sallinen

      Ensemble: Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra

      Conductor: Okko Kamu

    15. VII. Lemminki ja Saaren neidot (Lemminki and the Maidens of the Island)

      Composer: Aulis Sallinen

      Ensemble: Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra

      Conductor: Okko Kamu


...the conservative musical language rather brings Verdi to mind, and in a very real sense this cycle is a twentieth century equivalent to the latter’s Requiem: both are symphonic in construction and operatic in idiom, composed from spiritual rather than religious standpoints...

Listening to these two works by Aulis Sallinen is a bit like looking at two different photographs of the composer: the face is undeniably the same but not the perspective. Songs of Life and Death (1993-4) arose, rather by mischance, from a failed effort to compose a Requiem on verses by Lassi Nummi. Although title and outward form suggest Mahlerian associations, the conservative musical language rather brings Verdi to mind, and in a very real sense this cycle is a twentieth century equivalent to the latter’s Requiem: both are symphonic in construction and operatic in idiom, composed from spiritual rather than religious standpoints, and make use of secular elements. There are differences of course, not the least in scale and conception, which serve to underline a similarity of purpose and stature relative to their epochs. And while Sallinen's songs are very much songs of life, death is not here perceived as a grim or tragic end, and this imparts to the whole a peculiarly late twentieth-century aspect. Here at last is the choral-and-orchestral masterpiece Sibelius should have written, Finnish to the core yet international in appeal. It is, I believe, one of the very finest compositions Sallinen has yet produced...Very strongly recommended.

- Gramophone, 12/1995