Composer: Einojuhani Rautavaara
Performer: Gerald Finley, Mika Pohjonen
Orchestra: Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor: John Storgårds
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Ondine
Catalogue: ODE1274-2
Release: 2016
Size: 556 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Rubáiyát
01. I. Awake!
02. Interlude I
03. II. And Lately
04. Interlude II
05. III. Here with a Loaf of Bread
06. Interlude III
07. IV. We Are No Other Than a Moving Row
08. Interlude IV
09. V. Oh, Make Haste!
10. Into the Heart of Light “Canto V”
11. Balada
4 Songs from the Opera Rasputin
12. No. 1, Troikka kiitää
13. No. 2, Koston aika
14. No. 3, En pelkää nyt
15. No. 4, Loista, Siion, loista!
This new recording by Ondine includes the world premiere recordings of four works by the celebrated Finnish contemporary composer Einojuhani Rautavaara (b. 1928).
Rubáiyát (2015) is a song cycle based on the poetry of Omar Khayyam (1048–1131). The work was written for Gerald Finley who in this recording sings the solo part of the orchestral version of the work.
Balada (2014), based on texts by Lorca, is a large-scale work for tenor, mixed choir and orchestra. Tenor Mika Pohjonen sings as the soloist. This cantata was premiered in Madrid in May 2015.
Into the Heart of Light (Canto V; 2012) is the composer’s latest installment in a series of works for string orchestra that share the title Canto. Rautavaara wrote the first of his Cantos in the 1960s, and each piece in the series have represented well the latest stylistic developments by the composer.
The concluding work of the recording is Four Songs from the opera Rasputin. These dramatic songs were arranged by the composer for mixed choir and orchestra in 2012.
In the last two decades the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra – conducted in this present recording by John Storgårds – has released several award-winning recordings of the music of Einojuhani Rautavaara.
All of the works presented here cover Einojuhani Rautavaara’s final period, which you could call neo-romantic if you were keen to give it a label. It is true that the magnificent cycle Rubáiyát from 2015 (written when the composer had only one year left to live) marks a definitive return to classic tonality, melody and harmony, in a style that could just as well date from the late 19th century. The composer took a few characteristically Russian and Finnish passages from his last finished opera, Rasputin (2003), creating a fantastic and clear mix between two nations that are so close and so frequently at odds. Still in the same era, the magnificent work Canto V from 2012 is the final part of a kind of cycle which began half a century earlier: its first two pieces were still marked by dodecaphonism, which Rautavaara would soon ditch; the next instalments were filled with tonality, neoclassicism and neo-romanticism. The final Canto is subtitled “Into the Heart of Light”, which underlines the composer’s desire for the greatest clarity. The Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra is conducted by John Storgårds for these 2015 recordings; Rubáiyát is sung by bass-baritone Gerald Finley.