Toivo Kuula - Orchestral Works (Leif Segerstam)

Information

Composer: Toivo Kuula

• (01) Festive March, Op. 13
• (02) South Ostrobothnian Suite No. 1, Op. 9
• (07) South Ostrobothnian Suite No. 2, Op. 20
• (12) Prelude and Fugue, Op. 10

Turku Philharmonic Orchestra
Leif Segerstam, conductor

Date: 2015
Label: Ondine
https://www.ondine.net/index.php?lid=en&cid=2.2&oid=5602

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Review

Leevi Madetoja described his friend and associate Toivo Kuula as ‘a man who knows what he wants and is confident in his powers’. Perhaps those qualities led to Kuula being shot dead aged 35 during a drunken celebration-turned-sour at the back end of Finland’s 1918 civil war. Would Kuula, fascinated by Debussy and the music of France, have become a Finnish Impressionist had he not perished?

The nearest this disc gets to answering that is probably ‘Rain in the Forest’ from Kuula’s otherwise national-Romantic South Ostrobothnian Suite No 2 (1912 13, the better of the two). Kuula’s impressionistic credentials don’t move much beyond the Debussy-esque sliding of his canvas up or down a semitone; otherwise the glistening forest-scape and bass clarinet theme seem to me of more Sibelian gait. And while we’re on the subject, Leevi Madetoja’s undeniably Sibelius-influenced music sounds to my ears far more individual, original and developed (you must hear Madetoja on Ondine ODE1212 2 if you haven’t already). Accordingly, I’m inclined to agree with those who cite Kuula’s vocal music as his most successful.

Here, Kuula is at his best in the final movements of each suite, both as long as all the preceding movements combined. ‘The Will-o’-the-Wisp’ that ends the Suite No 2 feels like a symphonic poem. It bubbles up attractively, while ‘Song of Dusk’, which ends Suite No 1, feels as though it’s being pulled up from the flat, wet Ostrobothnian ground. Elsewhere, Kuula doesn’t deliver: his ponderous Festive March certainly doesn’t march at Leif Segerstam’s languid tempo and that old Nordic bogeyman – counterpoint – embarrasses the composer in the Prelude and Fugue (1909), which doesn’t take flight. The Turku Philharmonic Orchestra could have played with more heart and deeper breaths, too.

-- Andrew Mellor, Gramophone

More reviews:
ClassicsToday  ARTISTIC QUALITY: 7 / SOUND QUALITY: 9
MusicWeb International  RECORDING OF THE MONTH
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2015/Oct/Kuula_orchestral_ODE12702.htm
https://www.limelightmagazine.com.au/reviews/toivo-kuula-south-ostrobothnian-suites-nos-1-2-turku-philharmonic-orchestraleif-segerstam/

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Toivo Kuula (7 July 1883, Vaasa – 18 May 1918, Viipuri) was a Finnish composer and conductor of the late-Romantic and early-modern periods, who emerged in the wake of Jean Sibelius, under whom he studied privately from 1906 to 1908. The core of Kuula's oeuvre are his many works for voice and orchestra, in particular the Stabat mater (1914–18; completed by Madetoja), The Sea-Bathing Maidens (1910), Son of a Slave (1910), and The Maiden and the Boyar's Son (1912). In addition he also composed two Ostrobothnian Suites for orchestra and left an unfinished symphony at the time of his death.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toivo_Kuula

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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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