Customer Reviews

Kaustinen Rhapsody

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I first met JPP in a small Finnish Lutheran Church in North Portland in 1992. There were only three fiddles that night, as two of the members had to stay home to tend their cows. I was completely enchanted. Whether playing a rousing katrilli or a tango (the tango didn't really catch on in Finland until the 1950's) or the Funeral March at the end of this album, JPP's music has a feeling and intensity rarely found. The fiddles magically intertwine their melodies and harmonies over the strong anchor of the harmonium. I am a folkdancer and much of the music I collect reflects the types of dancing that I do. JPP is a group that plays dancable music of the highest caliber. That is why I have collected every recording they have made over the years I have known them. They are a talented and polished act. All of their albums are worthy of any music colection.

This record has been a favorite of mine for at least 10 1/2 years now. It is one whose many, VERY differently styled tracks have waxed and waned and waxed again in my consciousness. The traditional stuff (the Wedding March and Hjortingen) were early favorites... it was a couple years later that the tangos started sticking and replaying in my head. Finally, I find the whole, mad mishmash of influences to be gorgeous and, strangely, unified in the vigorousness of JPP's approach. Bottom line: this album is seriously good.