Toivo Kuula - Songs and Orchestral Music (Susan Gritton; Martyn Brabbins)

Information

Composer: Toivo Kuula

• (01) The Sea-bathing Nymphs, Op. 12
• (02) South Ostrobothnian Suite No. 2, Op. 20
• (07) Four Songs with orchestra
• (11) Concert Suite: 'Son of a Slave', Op. 14b
• (12) The Maiden and the Son of a Boyar, Op. 18
• (13) Prelude and Fugue, Op. 10

Susan Gritton, soprano (1, 7-10, 12)
BBC Concert Orchestra
Martyn Brabbins, conductor

Date: 2011
Label: Dutton
https://www.duttonvocalion.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=CDLX7272

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Review

Songs and orchestral works by Sibelius’s composition student

Six months before coming together (with a host of other musicians) to perform Havergal Brian’s Gothic Symphony at last year’s Proms, soprano Susan Gritton, the BBC Concert Orchestra and Martyn Brabbins gathered to set down this collection – all world premiere recordings – of songs and orchestral works by Toivo Kuula.

Kuula’s reputation rests on his 40-odd solo and choral songs but he was reportedly an accomplished conductor and his orchestral music benefited from his experience on the podium. The programme covers the full range of his brief career, from the wonderful early song ‘Long I stared into the fire’ (1907; orchestrated by his friend Aarre Merikanto) and the folksy ‘Summer Evening’ (1907, orch 1917) to the Two Songs, Op 31a (1917-18). Susan Gritton sings these items superbly well but the pick are the impressive and impressionistic ‘The Sea-bathing Nymphs’ (1909-10) and darkly dramatic ‘The Maiden and the Son of a Boyar’, sung with fervour and intensity. Lovers of Ravel and Bax will delight in these.

The most vivid score, however, is Orjan poika (‘Son of a Slave’, 1912) – variously described on the back cover and in the booklet as a concert suite, tone-poem and concert series – a powerful orchestral legend extracted from his cantata to Eino Leino’s poem; if anything it is too short! By contrast, the South Ostrobothnian Suite No 2 (1912-13) is more outwardly conventional, especially the cod-Sibelian central miniatures, but its large finale, ‘Daemons lighting up the will-o’-the-wisp’, amounts to half the length and a viable tone-poem on its own, a remarkable inspiration that split reviewers at its premiere. The Prelude and Fugue (1909) is rather conventional. An enthralling disc.

-- Guy Rickards, Gramophone

More reviews:
BBC Music Magazine  PERFORMANCE: **** / SOUND: ****
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2011/Oct11/Kuula_orchestral_CDLX7272.htm

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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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Susan Gritton (born 31 August 1965 in Reigate, Surrey) is an English operatic soprano. Gritton was educated at the University of Oxford and the University of London, where she studied Botany. She was the 1994 winner of the Kathleen Ferrier Award and has sung leading roles in a wide ranging repertoire from Handel and Mozart to Britten, Janáček and Strauss. On the concert platform her work also spans many periods and styles. A Grammy nominated artist, she has recorded prolifically for Chandos, Hyperion, Deutsche Grammophon, EMI, Decca, Philips and Collins Classics among others.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Gritton

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Martyn Brabbins (born 13 August 1959) is a British conductor. He studied composition at Goldsmiths, University of London, and conducting with Ilya Musin at the Leningrad Conservatory. Between 1994 and 2005, Brabbins was Associate Principal Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. He made a significant mark through recordings not in standard repertory and as one of the main conductors involved in Hyperion's extensive Romantic Piano Concerto series. Brabbins has conducted commercial recordings of music for such labels as Warner, Chandos, Hyperion, NMC, Nimbus, and Deutsche Grammophon.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martyn_Brabbins

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