COMPOSERS: etc,Kotilainen,Kuula,Madetoja,Melartin,Merikanto,Palmgren
LABELS: Ondine
ALBUM TITLE: Collection: Summer Moods
WORKS: Syksy
PERFORMER: Jorma Hynninen (baritone)Tampere PO/Ulf Söderblom
CATALOGUE NO: ODE 880-2
Summer becomes a melancholy memory in yet another compilation of popular turn-of-the-century Finnish songs. This time the distinctive eloquence of Finland’s leading baritone, Jorma Hynninen, is heard against the shimmering pastel backdrop of Kalevi Olliimaginative orchestral arrangements, in the sensitive hands of the Tampere Philharmonic and Ulf Söderblom.
They offer more and still more Oskar Merikanto (here visiting Venice with ‘Annina’), reveal both the light and dark sides of the enigmatic Toivo Kuula, and introduce a single secular serenade by church composer Frans Linnavuori. The first mists hover over two songs from Leevi Madetoja’s cycle Syksy (‘Autumn’) and Selim Palmgren, better known for his piano music, offers the final glimpses of salon summers and lakeside lullabies in the rolling assonance and echoing vowels which pervade this beguiling recital. Hilary Finch