Customer Reviews

ENGLUND: Symphonies Nos. 2 and 4 / Piano Concerto No. 1

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It truly is a shame that Englund is so overshadowed by Sibelius as a composer, especially considering the fact that he truly is his own man. While, like most Finnish composers, there certainly is a Sibelius influence, for the most part it's completely overblown. I'm much more struck by the affinities to Mahler or Ravel than anything else. Yet comparing Englund to others is, considering his own musical genius, little better than an insult--one which derives merely from a lack of exposure. I can only say that his music stands out as some of the best 20th century orchestral music I've heard. In light of this superb disc, I can only hope that Naxos decides to produce a series of his works like their Lutoslawski or Penderecki series'--considering the scarceness of Englund recordings it would be greatly appreciated.

Writing in 1972, Robert Layton and Humphrey Searle together opined, in their survey of contemporary Finnish composers, that Einar Englund (1916-1999) possessed "perhaps the most natural and spontaneous musical gift" among his living countryman-peers; they referred also to his "Prokofievian exuberance and skill." Englund suffered, in the late 1950s and early 1960s, from the stubbornness of his principles: When the tide of serialism finally reached Finland and swept over its musical establishment, Englund held his own ground, argued against the artifice of the technique, and finally withdrew from composition for a period rather than offer himself as a target for those who considered themselves liberated and avant-garde. When he emerged again actively, the early enthusiasm for the Webern-Boulez style had faded, and listeners could appreciate anew the integrity and inventiveness of Englund's music-making. Foremostly he was a symphonist (the total of his symphonies finally reaching seven). The present disc from Naxos features the Second (1948) and the Fourth (1976) played by the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra under Jorma Panula. Like the First, the Second is a "war symphony," full of the turmoil of the events from 1939-45, in which Finland (and Englund himself as soldier of the fatherland) fulfilled an important, if forgotten, role. The First Movement, tumultuous, with outbursts in the brass and rattling martial tattoos in the percussion, will occasionally remind American listeners of Harris (Sixth Symphony). There is a quieter middle-section, with woodwind-arabesques that suggest the "Blackbird" of the work's subtitle. Without suggesting any influence, the Second Movement might be said to be reminiscent in mood of "The Field of the Dead" from Prokofiev's "Alexander Nevsky," the main difference being the intrusion of marchlike music at midpoint; the closing bars, with their recursion to quiet birsong in a nocturnal setting, qualify as truly uncanny and moving. The Finale is an impressive return to life. The Fourth Symphony uses comparatively spare language and is calmer in mood: It commemorates the deaths of Stravinsky and Shostakovich. The added attraction is the Piano Concerto (No. 1) from 1955, described in the notes as "Bartokian." This is more extrovert music than the symphonies. All the works on this CD are thoroughly enjoyable and convincing.

I've enjoyed the Turku PO's recording of Englund's First Symphony for many years. It's wonderful that two more have come along with the first of the piano concerti.

Englund's landscape is full of sunning seals on angular rocks, snow, wind, power, and the human spirit in the setting. His writing for winds is especially striking...in spots of the Fourth he seems to be experimenting with what winds can take over from strings. This allows strings to follow wood, and the result is crystalline without being barren or nude. It's striking and absorbing music that reveals more to you with the many moods you're likely to have.

The piano concerto reminds me of the those by, of all people, Cammargo Guarnieri--big keyboard structures overlaying a dramatic and rich orchestra with the whole ebbing and flowing as if from some natural force. I mnight add that the concerto here could use a pianist with a slightly less percussive tone since the piano writing has plenty of mass to allow the instrument to stand out. However, the performance is very fluid, opens out nicely, and is a good advocate for an outstanding work that more Big Names would do well to take on (if any could find a conductor who would bother to learn the work). Otherwise, they'll have to start visiting Finland every year.

The Turku Philharmonic, once Finland's weak sister, shows itself to be outplaying its oft-praised confreres. Listen and see what you think. Like me, you may be wanting to move this distinguished ensemble to the capital. And yes, city fathers, the orchestra deserves that new hall!

That is Einar Englund. A Finnish composer, who made his breakthrough in 1946 and 1947 with premieres of his first two symphonist. It had such an impact on the audience, that Joonas Kookonen, another Finnish composer said that suddenly "we were all Englundians." Englund had introduced neoclassicism of modern age in Finland, together with the influences of Shostakovich, Bartok and Prokofiev.
Englund?s Second symphony is probably the finest work in his orchestral opus. There are plenty moments very much under the influence of Shostakovich?s war symphonies, especially when the brass is used. Some lyrical sections are more personal and more "Englund-like". Anyway, the symphony is a powerful and impressive score and overall the form is solid and the content suggests notable drammatic development.
Englund?s First piano concerto is a popular Finnish concerto. Here are more influences of Bartok and in the second movement Ravel. The cadenza of the first movement was first performed as an improvisation by Englund himself, who has later transcribed it from his recording.
Fourth symphony is from Englund?s later period, and it is more aphoristic and more free in its use of neoclassicism. While there are still moments that remind of Shostakovich, the score is conspiciously transparent.
Englund is a mixture of innovation and conservatism. His music is for good music lovers and it is not difficult to understand.

This is certainly one of the real gems of the Naxos catalogue. Einar Englund (1916-1999) was a superb Finnish composer who wrote colorful, tonal music very much in the vein of Shostakovich (with Ravelian colors), but who had a long hiatus from composition in the 1960s because his exasperation with being marginalized by the avant-garde community. Well, I do like much of 1960s avant-garde music, but it is hard to deny that Englund is superior to most serialists - or to most other 20th century composers overall. The second symphony, from 1948, is perhaps the work that is most heavily indebted to Shostakovich, but it is a riveting work, magnificently colorful but with a real sense of purpose. The first movement is lively and kaleidoscopic, relatively light in mood but with dark undercurrents. The Andante is apprehensive and poignantly absorbing, while the third is a superb, urgent movement, ripe with the Shostakovichian combination of fear, heroicism and scathing humour. Overall, this is simply a great work.

The first piano concerto, from 1955, is less obviously under the spell of Shostakovich; rather there are reminiscences of Bartok in the rhythms and Prokofiev in the melodic material. Again, however, the whole work is a dazzling display of color, brilliantly wrought and brilliantly scored, and again the finale is the most successful movement. The fourth symphony is back to Shostakovich - which is not to say that the work lacks touches of originality (or, for that matter, that Englund's more concentrated arguments are rarely even more appealing than much of Shostakovich's music). The opening movement is gloomy and desolate, and the whole work has a very, very dark shadow hanging over it. It works with smaller gestures and is certainly more introvert than the second, but is, in the end, a stunningly impressive, driven work of angst and real depth.

The performances are simply superb (I haven't heard the alternatives from Ondine, though). Sivelöv's mastery of the piano part in the concerto is brilliant and colorful, and the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra under Jorma Panula are excellent throughout with a firm, idiomatic grasp of the music, a strong sense of purpose, rhythmic incisiveness and vigour and realizing the whole array of instrumental color the music needs and deserves. Sound quality is superb as well, and there is really absolutely no reason not to hurry up and acquire this release.