The Finnish company
Alba have a splendid and flourishing
catalogue that tends to get the cold
shoulder outside Finland. In fact their
Tubin and Madetoja series merit serious
attention. Here the company turns its
attention to the romantic-melodic music
of Kalervo Tuukanen. The style is light
Sibelian, tuneful and sincere. The string
writing marks out long singing lines
and the woodwind chortles and chuckles
gleefully. Heavy-booted folk dances
can be heard as for example in the Moderato
of the Serenata. A sleepy
repose settles over the Andantino
con moto which could here have done
with more moto and less andantino
from Koivola. The Allegro con
fuoco chatters along in playfully
Karelian spirits as does the freestanding
Midsummer Dance. Evening Song
harks back to the warm bath of string
sound in the Serenata's andantino.
A quick approximation of Tuukkanen in
playful mood is the Wirén Serenade
for strings. The music has a similar
bounce.
The Little Suite
has a gentle wan poetry typical
of Rakastava but sometimes with
a misty Gallic touch as in the works
of Uuno Klami especially in the impressionistic
har of his Sea Pictures. Romantic
Moments has two long, slow, faintly
melancholic movements framing a sparkling
Wirén-like Scherzino.
After these works the quasi-Shostakovich
tension at the start of Tempus Festum
comes as a slight jolt but Tuukkanen
soon returns to the sort of writing
Madetoja was penning in his Second Symphony
in 1915.
This is light music
but not in the Coates or Ketèlbey
sense. The music evinces a tasteful
sensibility with leanings towards national-impressionism
and emotional fluency. Madetoja and
Klami are reference points. I would
welcome hearing Tuukkanen's other orchestral
works. There are six symphonies, a cello
concerto, two violin concertos and the
symphonic tone picture for male chorus
and orchestra The Bear Hunt to
a text by Alexis Kivi. This latter was
recorded as part of the famed Fennica
LP recording project (does anyone have
a copy they could CDR for me please)
also including Tuukkanen’s Character
Sketches of The Three Musketeers.
The Third Symphony The Sea and
his Second Violin Concerto were recorded
on Finlandia in the 1990s. That disc
was financed from royalty income. That's
another CD I would like to track down
(available from http://www.jyvaskylasinfonia.fi/sivu.php/levy_thesea.
)
Meat and drink to anyone
wanting some gently impressionistic,
romantic, Scandinavian music. Documentation
and recording choices excellent,
Rob Barnett
Joensuu City Orchestra/Hannu Koivula 