Jorma Hynninen & Kymi Sinfonietta - Klami: Intermezzo & Symphonie Enfantine: Kesti: Fantasia (CD)

Release Date: 01/01/02

Rhapsodie starts with the brevity that is the Intermezzo. It's a chucklingly industrious folk-accented movement for cor

Rhapsodie starts with the brevity that is the Intermezzo. It's a chucklingly industrious folk-accented movement for cor anglais and orchestra with many modest limpid Sibelian references coloured by a touch of Rimsky. The score is laid out on an egalitarian basis with many other solo woodwind voices joining the cor anglais. The booklet notes by Hannele Dolk tell us that it is based on the first movement of his Psalmus written in 1936. In 1945 he wrote the incidental music for the Marin Drzic play, The Prodigal Son, at the Finnish National Theatre. It's a light sequence as befits a comedy. The Prelude to Act I is a busy little march lit by racing and glinting orchestral piano entwined with chortling woodwind. It sounds rather like a Nordic rumba as if something from 1920s Milhaud or Ibert. Again this would be ideal Classic FM material. The great baritone Hynninen (b. 1941) sings the two Madrigali and one Serenaadi which are grouped around the three orchestral preludes. These are light and winning serenades - the Nordic equivalent of Neapolitan romances with a typical dash of sun, beauty, sadness or regret. That orchestral piano again makes its presence felt in the warmly pensive Prelude to Act II. It cleverly uses the material of the first Prelude but at a honey-slow pace. The final Prelude is more urgent with that ringing orchestral piano and soloistic woodwind pressing forward aided by chugging string ostinatos. There you have it: the Finnish composer Uuno Klami - a captivating composer whose tonal-nationalist-impressionistic style moved later in life a little towards the neo-classical. Do not neglect these indispensable Alba discs for your Klami collection.Rob Barnett