Finnish Orchestral Favourites

Regular: £11.49

Sale: £11.49
Regular

Out of Stock

Unit Price: per

Cat No: 8555773

Release Date: 03 January 2001

Label: Naxos - Nxc / Naxos Classics

Packaging Type: Jewel Case

No of Units: 1

Barcode: 747313577323

Genres: Classical

Composer/Series: Finnish Orchestral Favourites

Description
Finnish Orchestral FavouritesThere is no doubt that the most famous of all Finnish composers must be Jean Sibelius (1865-1957), a masterly symphonist who captured the spirit and history of his own country in a series of symphonies, tone-poems and other works. Finlandia, in particular, became a symbol of the country's struggle for independence, a cause in which Sibelius was closely involved. It was written in 1899 as part of the music for the press pensions celebration of that year, an event that was transformed into a patriotic demonstration against Russian power. Valse triste, which won widespread popularity in a variety of arrangements but made little money for the composer, was composed in 1903 to accompany a death scene in a play by Sibelius' brother-in-law, Arvid Jarnefelt. Leevi Madetoja (1887-1947) was a pupil of Sibelius in Helsinki and later of Vincent d'Indy in Paris and Robert Fuchs in Vienna. He had a career as a conductor, teacher, critic and composer, and won particular success with his opera Pohjalaisia (The Ostrobothnians), composed in 1923, staged in 1935 and generally regarded as the first significant Finnish contribution to the genre. His Elegy for Strings forms part of his Symphonic Suite, Opus 4, of 1910. Born in the previous decade, Erkki Melartin (1875-1937) studied in Helsinki and with Fuchs in Vienna, then broadening his education with further travel and study before returning to Finland, where he spent a number of years as director of the Helsinki Music Institute. Like Madetoja, he belongs to the generation of nationalist composers following Sibelius. Prolific as a composer both of lighter and of more serious music, he is widely remembered for his popular Festive March, heard at many Finnish weddings and taken from Melartin's incidental music to the play Prinsessa Ruusunea (Sleeping Beauty). The Wedding March by Toivo Kuula (1883-1918), whose promise as a leading composer in the generation after Sibelius was cut short by his death after the Finnish Civil War, enjoys similar popularity.Armas Jarnefelt (1869-1958), another brother-in-law of Sibelius and a member of a family of distinguished talent and strongly nationalist sympathies, studied with Martin Wegelius and Ferruccio Busoni in Helsinki, in Berlin and then in Paris with Massenet. For a number of years he was principal conductor at the Royal Opera in Stockholm, while as a composer he is chiefly remembered for his Praeludium and Berceuse, the popularity of which has eclipsed other works of his. Oskar Merikanto (1868-1924) played an important part in Finnish musical life. His numerous piano pieces enjoyed domestic popularity, together with his many songs and he made a significant contribution to the development of church music in Finland and to operatic performance. His Romance and Valse lente have been orchestrated for the present recording by Jorma Panula. The reputation of Heino Kaski (1885-1957) depends largely on his piano music and one of his best known pieces i
Tracklisting