Uuno Klami - Symphony No. 2; Symphonie enfantine (Tuomas Hannikainen)

Information

Composer: Uuno Klami

1. Symphony No. 2, Op. 35: I. Moderato molto
2. Symphony No. 2, Op. 35: II. Allegro con vivo
3. Symphony No. 2, Op. 35: III. (En forme d'introduction) Misterioso e lugubre, tempo quasi adagio
4. Symphony No. 2, Op. 35: IV. Allegro assai
5. Symphonie enfantine, Op. 17: I. Poco agitato
6. Symphonie enfantine, Op. 17: II. Berceuse (Andante)
7. Symphonie enfantine, Op. 17: III. Molto vivo

Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra
Tuomas Ollila-Hannikainen, conductor

Date: 1996
Label: Ondine
https://www.ondine.net/index.php?lid=en&cid=2.2&oid=3760

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Review

Uuno Klami’s Second Symphony (1945) is very different in character from its predecessor (1938). The First, also recorded by these artists (3/96), is optimistic and outgoing in atmosphere; No. 2 is elusive, at times subdued, but with a harder-edged sound in its grander moments, undoubtedly reflecting the terrible events which took place in wartime Finland. Resonances of Sibelius are few, once the opening pages (which seem also fleetingly to look forward several decades to Sallinen) are done with, likewise of the French impressionists so close to the composer’s heart. Rather, it is Tchaikovsky who springs most often to mind, though there is a more generally ‘European’ feel to the music, and the final climax is pure Bax.

Expressively, Klami’s Second Symphony looks back to the nineteenth century, and formally is a little too rhapsodic for its own good. The serious demeanour of the first and third movements suggests that they were the product of some inner imperative, though quite what that was is a mystery. If Klami hoped the piece might prove a compositional ‘fresh start’ for post-war Finnish music, he was to be disappointed (that would only come with the premiere in 1947 of another ‘war’ symphony, Einar Englund’s lean-cut First).

The charming, Ravelian Symphonie enfantine (1928) does not make a really sufficient coupling, and at only 50 minutes the disc is a little ungenerous in duration. The performances are committed and very well played, as with No. 1, and the sound is clean and natural.

-- Gramophone

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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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Tuomas Hannikainen (formerly Ollila; born March 10, 1965 in Myrskylä) is a Finnish conductor and violinist. Hannikainen completed a violin diploma at the Sibelius Academy in 1988 and a conductor diploma in 1991 with Jorma Panula. He also studied with Ilya Musin at the St. Petersburg Conservatory (1990–92). Hannikainen served as Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra from 1994 to 1998. He has been one of the four conductors of the Ostrobothnia Chamber Orchestra since 2009, and artistic director of the Joroinen Music Festival since 2011.
https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuomas_Hannikainen

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