Uuno Klami - All'ouverture; Sea Pictures; Kalevala Suite (Leif Segerstam)

Information

Composer: Uuno Klami

• (01) All'ouverture, Op. 43
• (02) Sea Pictures
• (08) Kalevala Suite, Op. 23

Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Leif Segerstam, conductor

Date: 1987
Label: Finlandia

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Review

Uuno Klami came from the generations that toiled under the vast sun-sapping shadow of Sibelius. Composers struck out in new directions to assert individuality and their own voice. While people of the estimable stature of Ernest Pingoud and Väinö Raitio tapped into the fresh breezes blowing in from Prokofiev, Klami reached towards the impressionistic models of Ravel and Debussy and the Stravinsky of The Firebird. Later he dabbled in jazzy patterns and Parisian brilliance.

After the murky All'Ouverture, a sort of sepia-draped Karelia, comes the delicate pastel-wash fantasy of the Sea Pictures. Klami loved the sea. This work will almost certainly appeal to anyone who already likes the Ravel of Ma Mère l'Oye, the Nielsen of Pan and Syrinx and the Sibelius of The Oceanides. The Deserted Three-Master has a fine swinging tune and Captain Scrapuchinat has a quiet pummelling note-figure that sounds like the distant heart-beat of a steamer. The suite of six movements ends with the so-called 3 Bf (a reference to a windforce point on the Beaufort scale) which is modestly notorious for its unblushing appropriation of a distinctive melodic cell (and one or two other things) from Ravel's Bolero.

The Kalevala Suite grew very gradually, only emerging fully formed in 1943. It is the freshest of works from a composer having the temerity to venture into territory considered the peculiar property of the Master of Järvenpää. It is a Sibelian piece in which pounding Karelian material meets the deliquescent style of The Firebird and to a lesser degree of The Rite of Spring and Petrushka. The tender Cradle Song of Lemminkäinen is rather too sleepily outlined by Segerstam but the remainder of the works go with a swing and gripping sway. Most impressive is the effervescent Sibelian welling sunrise of The Forging of the Sampo which resolves into a metallic eruptive blasting anvil cannonade.

-- Rob Barnett, MusicWeb International

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Uuno Klami (20 September 1900 – 29 May 1961) was a Finnish composer. Klami studied music in Helsinki with Erkki Melartin and later in Paris and Vienna. His main works include the Kalevala Suite and the unfinished ballet Whirls. Klami also wrote two symphonies (1938 and 1945) and Symphonie enfantine (1927), two piano concertos and one Violin Concerto (1943). His energetic Karelian Rhapsody was the first Finnish orchestral work to be published in Finland. Klami was influenced by French and Spanish music, and especially by Maurice Ravel, for whom he had a particular esteem.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uuno_Klami

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Leif Segerstam (born 2 March 1944 in Vaasa, Ostrobothnia, Finland) is a Finnish conductor, composer, violinist, violist and pianist, especially known for his 309 symphonies, along with his other works in his extensive œuvre. Segerstam has conducted in a variety of orchestras since 1963, mostly American, Australian and European orchestras. He is widely known through his recorded discography, which includes the complete symphonies of Blomdahl, Brahms, Mahler, Nielsen, and Sibelius, as well as many works by contemporary composer, such as Einojuhani Rautavaara, Allan Pettersson and Alfred Schnittke.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leif_Segerstam

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