Album

While the world of pre-Sibelius Finnish music is thinly populated with composers—Karajan, the only Finnish composer before Sibelius of note, stopped after hearing Sibelius' music—the world of post-Sibelius Finnish music is densely populated with composers. In addition to Melartin, Madetoja, and Merikanto, there was Uuno Klami, the subject of this 1993 Chandos disc with Petri Sakari leading the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. While in terms of sound, Klami was quite far from Sibelius—there are few grinding ostinatos, fewer pounding rhythms, and fewer still gnarly forms and nary a gnomic harmony—in terms of subject matter, the two were similar to the point of plagiarism—Sibelius wrote a Karelia Suite and a Kalevala Symphony while several decades later Klami wrote a Karelian Rhapsody and a Kalevala Suite. Klami's pieces here were among his most popular in his lifetime, and they are still his most immediately appealing today. Melodic, direct, evocative, and colorful, Klami's music is in fact more immediately appealing than Sibelius' own music—and therein lies its downfall. The heroic individuality that is at the core of Sibelius' identity as a composer is fatally diluted by imitation, and Klami's all-too-direct music fails to stand up under repeated hearing while Sibelius' gnarly and gnomic music just keeps getting better and better. Superbly played, expertly conducted, and brilliantly recorded, this disc is for listeners who know and love all of Sibelius' orchestral music and want to hear something written in more or less the same style.

© James Leonard, All Music Guide

CD 1
Uuno Klami Composer Karelian Rhapsody for orchestra, Op.15 Work Iceland Symphony Orchestra Orchestra, Petri Sakari Conductor
1	Karelian Rhapsody for orchestra, Op.15	14:08			$2.49
Uuno Klami Composer Kalevala Suite for orchestra, Op 23 Work 32:45 Iceland Symphony Orchestra Orchestra, Petri Sakari Conductor
2	1.The Creation of the Earth. Agitato e misterioso	7:33			$1.49
3	2.The Spout of Spring. Andante, molto tranquillo	5:22			$0.99
4	3.Terhenniemi. Allegro leggiero e scherzando	6:38			$0.99
5	4.Cradle Song for Lemminkäinen. Andante mosso	5:43			$0.99
6	5.The Forging of the Sampo. Allegro moderato	7:29			$1.49
Uuno Klami Composer Sea Pictures for orchestra Work 23:32 Iceland Symphony Orchestra Orchestra, Petri Sakari Conductor
7	1.A Foggy Morning. Agitato	3:38			$0.99
8	2.Captain Scrapuchinat. Vivo	3:08			$0.99
9	3.The Deserted Three-Master. Grave ma non troppo lento - Più mosso - Agitato	5:20			$0.99
10	4.Nocturno. Andante mosso, quasi allegretto	3:15			$0.99
11	5.Scène de ballet. Poco allegretto	1:43			$0.99
12	6.Force 3. Moderato	6:28			$0.99