Customer Reviews

Melartin: The Six SYMPHONIES

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Read the previous reviews to get a feel for what this is, and what this is not. I don't plan to reiterate what has been so competently stated by my predecessors. From a nationalistic point of view, these symphonies do represent an original voice, however derivative it may sound to ears that are "wise after the fact." Erkki Melartin seems to be looking for his voice in the first symphony, which tends to meander (despite lofty contrapuntal intentions and the controlling principle of brevity). Things tighten up and come into focus in the next 4 works, and symphonies 3 and 4 are nothing short of masterful. Economy of thematic means is matched with a creatively-employed color pallette with cleanness of line heightening the drama. The counterpoint is complex, but never sounds like it -- it comes across as effortless (despite the fact that one is often listening to complex overlays of the cantus firmus in augmentation, retrograde, inversion, etc., all at once). Thematic unity is also emphasized: motifs in a given symphony's first movement tend to pepper subsequent movements (or, perhaps just as accurately, subsequent themes owe their heritage to previous material, but sometimes inverted, etc.). The 5th symphony is also mature and satisfying, but Melartin dabbles in darker, more dissonant waters in the 6th, which is, to me, the least successful of the set (primarily because of its first movement, although subsequent movements attempt to redeem the picture). All in all, worthy of one's patronage. The Tampere Orchestra plays flawlessly and with conviction under Leonid Grin. If you were to get one set of 20th century symphonies this year, this one should vie with British composer Edward Rubbra's set for your consideration (also available on Amazon) -- you can't go wrong with either set, and the compositional craftsmanship in both cases is exemplary.

I agree completely with the other review posted here. I even came by these recordings the same way he did; I read the glowing comments on one of the single issues and decided to investigate the whole set. This is wonderful music--beautfiully crafted, sometimes lyrical, sometimes powerful, but always colorful and interesting. As a conductor Melartin brought Mahler to the Scandanavian countires, just as Wilhelm Stenhammar-- his exact comtemporary--introduced Bruckner to the north; and one can hear the Mahler influence in Melartin's dazzling orchestration. Melartin gets a very brief paragraph in Groves; and, as nearly as I can determine, these are the only recordings of the symphonies available--perhaps, ever available. I'm not going to play "is-it-as-good-as" games. The quality of this music, however, raises real questions about the standard orchestral canon--what's in and what's out. There is a great deal of music routinely heard in the world's concert halls which is not the equal of these enjoyable symphonies. I don't know much about Leonid Grin, and it's always difficult to judge performances of marginalized repertoire when you've never heard it before. I remember Bernstein took an interest in his talents some years ago, and I think he now holds a post somewhere in the US south-west. All I can say is the music is compelling and he gets top notch results from a little known orchestra. Great sound and a good price! (Check out Melartin's violin concerto with Segerstam on the same label!)

What we have here is another example of a lost or forgotten composer. Melartin, a Finnish composer who lived from 1875-1937 has in essence become completely eclipsed by his contemporary, Jean Sibelius. While I'm not saying that Melartin's symphonies are better than those masterpeices of Sibelius, I am going to say that these deserve better attention and circulation than they have been given. These are wonderful, tuneful works, full of brilliant orchestration! The composer that seems to come to mind for me is Bruckner, only these are more brilliant orchestrally. I decided to purchase the complete set after reading the recommendations for Symphony #4, and haven't regretted it for a minute! Everyone of these symphonies will bring much pleasure to the listener. Please buy this set!

It is strange, and disappointing, how the passage of time has treated certain composers in relation to others. I assume most people reading this would be unfamiliar with the Finnish composer Erkki Melartin (1875-1937). Of course, Melartin is destined to remain in obscurity, at least for the foreseeable future, given the lack or recordings of his works. In fact, this recording of his symphonies by the Tampere Philharmonic constitutes the only recording of Melartin's symphonies available. Let's compare that to, say, the symphonies of Melartin's contemporary and fellow Finn, Sibelius. There are no fewer than fifty recordings of Sibelius symphonies currently available. Based on the quality, and inventiveness, of Melartin's music, this relative neglect is truly unfair.

But, enough on that. What I hope to accomplish by writing this review is to encourage adventurous listeners to acquire these excellent symphonies. It is often helpful to make some comparisons when speaking of an unknown composer. Starting with the obvious, yes, there are similarities to Sibelius here. But since Melartin's symphonies are contemporaneous with those of Sibelius, it is neither fair nor accurate to state that Melartin was a Sibelius imitator.

It seems that Germanic music, particularly the music of Mahler and Bruckner, had a more profound influence on Melartin in comparison to Sibelius. But, I do not want to over emphasize this influence, as Melartin's symphonies are not Mahlerian by any means. Melartin makes frequent use of leitmotifs, using such ideas across multiple movements within the same symphony to create cohesion. Each of Melartin's symphonies is boldly and vibrantly orchestrated - lots of brass, of course - but I never got the sense that the music was getting weighed down, or that Melartin was being overly serious. Each symphony is a four movement work, lasting approximately a half of an hour, so none of Melartin's ideas outstay their welcome. From a melodic standpoint, Melartin's symphonies are wholly Nordic, with the composer making frequent use of Finnish folk songs. To provide some insight into the composer's mindset, Melartin uses stylistic descriptors such as "a solitary autumnal melody" or "sounding in Karelian-national fashion" throughout his symphonies.

What I like about these symphonies is their ability to continuously surprise the listener with their unexpected harmonic and stylistic shifts, while maintaining their intense lyricism. This last point should surely be emphasized. Melartin, above all, was a fantastic melodist, and had an uncanny ability to paint picturesque landscapes with his works. The depiction of the Finnish countryside in the third movement of Melartin's "Summer Symphony" (Symphony No. 4), is just one example. This movement has been discussed by other reviewers, and I completely agree - this is a lovely movement. However, Melartin's other slow movements are also remarkably alluring, full of pastoral shadings and modal lyricism. The beautiful andante from the third symphony is another personal favorite.

I think Melartin's scherzos also deserve special mention. The opening themes of these movements often seem simple and lighthearted enough, but the trio sections often contain powerful melancholic, or even ominous, overtones. It is within the scherzo that Melartin proves himself to be a complex contrapuntist. The central section of scherzo from the Symphony No. 3 contains some of the densest orchestral writing I have heard from this time period. The charmingly doleful third movement of the fifth symphony also deserves to be specifically mentioned, both for its delicate, yet imaginative, orchestration, and for the manner in which Melartin craftily weaves two separate melodies together.

But there are distinctive ideas throughout all of Melartin's symphonies; whether it is the soaring multi-tiered French horn calls from the fifth symphony's opening movement, the vigorous march-like finale of the second symphony, or the powerful and sweeping opening to the first symphony, there is always something memorable occurring in these symphonies.

The Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra performs these works well and Ondine's recording quality is superb, as one who has acquired other releases from this intrepid label will expect.

In conclusion, this is a marvelous set, and I have returned to it often. If you enjoy music from the Nationalist Romantic school, you will find that these six highly attractive symphonies have a tremendous amount to offer.

Highest recommendation!!

Total Times:
CD 1: 60:54
CD 2: 69:48
CD 3: 68:07

Melartin's symphonies are often compared to Mahler's by critics simply because he introduced Mahler to the Nordic audience. But they are hardly Mahlerian at half of the length. In fact, they are typical miniaturist's symphonies, which vaguely reminded me of Sinding. Powerful and ambitious openings are drowned out by overflowing lyricism in the middle movements, which, despite their colorfulness, are sterile of ideas. No doubt there are many good tunes in the symphonies, but they are nondescript, easily fade from memory and soon become tiresome. Grieg, though his only symphony is often dismissed as derivative, seems the only miniaturist capable of large scale works.

I agree completely with the other review posted here. I even came by these recordings the same way he did; I read the glowing comments on one of the single issues and decided to investigate the whole set. This is wonderful music--beautfiully crafted, sometimes lyrical, sometimes powerful, but always colorful and interesting. As a conductor Melartin brought Mahler to the Scandanavian countires, just as Wilhelm Stenhammar-- his exact comtemporary--introduced Bruckner to the north; and one can hear the Mahler influence in Melartin's dazzling orchestration. Melartin gets a very brief paragraph in Groves; and, as nearly as I can determine, these are the only recordings of the symphonies available--perhaps, ever available. I'm not going to play "is-it-as-good-as" games. The quality of this music, however, raises real questions about the standard orchestral canon--what's in and what's out. There is a great deal of music routinely heard in the world's concert halls which is not the equal of these enjoyable symphonies. I don't know much about Leonid Grin, and it's always difficult to judge performances of marginalized repertoire when you've never heard it before. I remember Bernstein took an interest in his talents some years ago, and I think he now holds a post somewhere in the US south-west. All I can say is the music is compelling and he gets top notch results from a little known orchestra. Great sound and a good price! (Check out Melartin's violin concerto with Segerstam on the same label!)

Ondine's series of Erkki Melartin's (1875-1937) symphonies is an invaluable addition to the catalogue of recorded music (one of several invaluable projects from Ondine - think of their coverage of Raitio, Englund and Merikanto, for instance). Stylistically, the influence of Sibelius is clearly audible, but not oppressively so. Rather, Melartin's music (at least in the first four symphonies) strikes me as a lushly late-romantic, Mahlerian and Brucknerian take on Mendelssohn and Raff, fused with folkloristic elements and the kind of autumnal late-romantic sensibility you encounter in the music of Stenhammar and Zemlinsky. Maybe Melartin's isn't the most individual of compositional voices, but the level of invention is still extremely high in all his symphonies, the melodic material striking and memorable, the scoring imaginative and the formal skills undeniable. Much of the music relies on atmosphere, and picturesque playing with light and shadow - particularly effectively in the faster movements - and much of it might possible be designated as "nature music" (for good or bad, but in Melartin's case mostly good).

In his fifth and sixth symphonies, however, it is obvious that he attempts to modernize his musical language somewhat, even though it is still grounded upon the essentially tuneful romanticism of his earlier works. The results are curiously manieristic - essentially Mendelssohnian romanticism with nods towards modest modernism (at least impressionism and late Sibelius) pasted on top. The fifth symphony is still a generally very rewarding work, whereas the sixth is slightly more problematic, but neither work strikes me as the places to start investigating the composer (start with the two middle symphonies).

At 26 minutes the first symphony (1902) is the shortest of Melartin's symphonies. It is also possibly the weakest work in the cycle, although it is still a cheekily confident and inventive work with a hint of the Russian silver age, Tchaikovsky and - obviously - Sibelius's first. The folksy scherzo is delightful, however, and overall this is a very satisfying work, if not perhaps on the level of the works to follow.

The second symphony, from 1904, draws on early Sibelius as well but is more original and personal than the first. It is an eminently enjoyable and appealing work in a national romantic style full of the kind of glorious nature painting that characterizes so many of the most appealing Nordic symphonies of the time. It is somewhat darker and more strident than its predecessor, but glimmers of light are always at least hinted at. The strongest movement, I think, is the magnificent finale with its very memorable first theme, but it is overall a very rewarding work.

The third, written in 1906/07, is possibly the finest of the cycle, however, and I am willing to call it a masterpiece. Formally it is cyclical with a theme that reappears in all four movements. The surging first movement is a gloriously atmospheric and powerful movement (sea breezes and pine forests at autumn, perhaps), the slow movement gorgeous and the finale powerful. Yet - perhaps surprisingly - the scherzo may well be the crowning glory, a marvelous, remarkable and thoroughly memorable movement, relatively dark and gleefully urgent but not without rays of light.

The fourth symphony (1912) is (at forty minutes) the composer's longest. This is mostly due to the extended slow movement, a wonderful, wistful, hazily dreamlike movement featuring three wordless sopranos in a beautiful melody (used similarly to the second act of his opera Aino, for those who are familiar with it). Something similar has been done before, of course (Alfvén's fourth seems to be the most obvious example), but none has done it more grippingly or effectively than Melartin - it is a stunningly atmospheric movement. It also follows on the heels of a magnificently glittering, summerly scherzo (Melartin had a knack for writing marvelous scherzi). While the outer movements are perhaps not as memorable, they are still superbly effective; all in all a wonderful work.

The fifth symphony, from 1916, is generally Sibelian, still lushly romantic but with some glittering, fragile textures - sunlight reflected in icicles, perhaps. It opens with an impressive, darkly late romantic sonata form first movement. The second movement is the most manieristic; it starts out as a pastoral tone painting which suddenly goes quiet to emerge in strangely, almost atonal birdcall chattering that gradually returns to almost banal romanticism - I cannot help but suspecting that Melartin was attempting (but in the end failing) to emulate the effect of Schoenberg's second quartet, but with a result that is more bizarre than effective. The third movement, however, is a delicate intermezzo, folkloristically colored but somewhat restrained. The fugal finale picks up elements from the first movement, apparently to create the impression of a unified whole - I am unsure whether it is completely successful, but the work as a whole certainly contains many wonderful things.

The sixth symphony (1925) is a tougher nut to crack. With movements inspired by earth, water, air and fire, respectively, it appears to renounce the pictorialism of his earlier works - it is more impressionistic but also sterner, somewhat reminiscent of later Roussel. It is still essentially romantic, but sinewy and conflict-filled, restless and obviously 20th century. In the end, it is a rewarding work (but not always easy to grasp), but the reason for that seems to be that Melartin relatively often lets the nature painting style of his earlier symphonies shine through. A fine work, but if you know the earlier symphonies, be prepared for something different.

The Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra may not be the most famous of Finnish orchestras, but they deliver marvelously spirited, colorful performances - buoyantly catchy in the lighter movements, fiercely dramatic in the outer movements and wonderfully, atmospherically reflective in the slow movements. Leonid Grin displays a deep understanding and love of these works, and Ondine provides them with very good sound quality. Strongly recommended.