Customer Reviews

Rautavaara: Symphony No. 7 "Angel of Light", Flute Concerto "Dances with the Winds", Cantus Arcticus

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My hearing the first note of Rautavaara had been delayed for too long, mainly since I was busy excercizing my role as a professional conductor. I had read many articles on the composer which labeled him anything from being a "mystic sage" to a "musical prophet". Finally my day had come. I was expecting the ususal scenario where I would seek out to champion a "real" composer that would transport me that other dimension (which we all desperately seek but too often are left again in the bitter cold). Rautavaara's Symphony No. 7 "Angel of Light" was a revelation to me in the form of a catharsis. I was so deeply moved by it that it was hard to remember any piece that I have heard in the last twenty years that has even come close to its communicative power. The "Angel of Light" is visionary. It is a perfect entry for anyone into the world of Rautavaara. The spiritual power of this symphony has completely changed my philosophy on the meaning of music and music in our time. The listener will be completely gripped by its power and grand sonorities that it is hard to believe that the 35 minutes are over. I have listened to it again and again countless times played by the Lahti Symphony under maestro Osmo Vanska, and each time, I dig deeper into a goldmine of compositional and inspirational mastery. This symphony has changed me profoundly.

As difficult as it might seem (perhaps because he has yet to be a "household name" for classical music lovers in the U.S.), Einojuhani Rautavaara has now been composing highly original - yet accessible - music for more than 50 years. Born in 1928, his first "official" published composition - Pelimannit ("The Fiddlers"), Op. 1 - dates from 1952, thereby putting his compositions past the half-century mark. Now 74, he is as busy as ever, working on three newly commissioned works to appear in the next few years or so.

Despite not being a household name, Rautavaara hardly "labors in obscurity." Two of his most popular works (Cantus Arcticus and the Symphony No. 7) have now made their way onto three different record labels: Ondine, the "official" Finnish label (and the one which has "first dibs" on all Rautavaara premiere recordings), Naxos, the bargain label which makes it inexpensively possible to sample music previously unheard, and the Swedish BIS label, which released this recording.

Having now heard the new Naxos recording of the Symphony No. 7, and being familiar with the Ondine recordings of both these popular works as well as the Naxos recording of Cantus Arcticus, I think it reasonable that this BIS recording be recommended to anyone looking for a coupling of these two popular works.

It is likely fair to say that Cantus Arcticus has been "the way in" for many Rautavaara "newbies." Most anyone hearing this work for the first time is held captive in its thrall. Now more than 30 years old, it predates the beginning of Rautavaara's rhapsodic "Angels" period by several years, yet it has much in common with these "Angels" works in terms of harmonic daring and freely flowing thematic materials. Subtitled a "Concerto for Birds and Orchestra" by Rautavaara, the work integrates taped bird song with music that shows its homage to Sibelius. In terms of the deftness and completeness of this integration, Cantus Arcticus may well be the best (or at least the most effective) realization of the integration of taped wildlife sounds with music.

This Vänska/Lahti S.O. recording is clearly superior to the alternative versions available on Naxos and Ondine by virtue of the fact that it is the only one of the three recordings that utilizes Rautavaara's revised tape recordings. And the imitative sounds of "honking" oboes and other double-reed instruments are better realized here than in those other two recordings.

The 7th Symphony is, if anything, even more enthralling than Cantus Arcticus. The mood is set early on in the very Sibelius-like, freely-flowing first movement, in which Rautavaara utilizes vibraphone and celeste to magical effect. The harmonies seemingly modulate endlessly yet logically, a true Rautavaara "fingerprint" that seems an immediate "identifier" of his late-period music. The second-movement scherzo, marked "Molto allegro," is quite Prokofiev-like in its sound-world, and provides a break in the midst of what is largely a slow, meditative and totally rhapsodic work. Nowhere is this meditative, rhapsodic nature captured better than in the third movement. Scored more lightly (mainly for strings, woodwinds and solo French horn) than the rest of the work, this movement truly is the apogee of Rautavaara's "Angels"-period works; "Sibelius meets mystical minimalism," if you like. The final movement opens with brass perorations as a brief introduction to chorale-like writing for massed strings with woodwind figures reminiscent of Cantus Arcticus. A "study in orchestral sonority and harmonic lushness," sounding in spots as if it had been influenced by the music of Ralph Vaughan Williams, the movement proceeds in a totally magical way toward a hushed close, with no obvious concluding coda (a style I am beginning to recognize as yet another Rautavaara "fingerprint").

This Vänska/Lahti S.O. performance is quite close, even a "near-ringer," in terms of timings, to the newer Naxos performance, but with better-detailed sound and superior orchestral playing. However, my overall preference among the three versions available remains the authoritative performance by Leif Segerstam and the Helsinki P.O. on Ondine (incorrectly identified by a previous reviewer as being under the direction of Max Pommer). Segerstam infuses the work with much more feeling (and even better orchestral playing and recorded sound), with a more spacious reading of the three slow movements (each approximately a minute longer than Vänska's interpretation). The rhapsodic nature of the work benefits from this approach, even if the timing differences are not immediately noticeable.

The third work on this CD, "Dances with the Winds," is a concerto for multiple flutes (piccolo, flute, alto flute and bass flute) played by a single soloist (here, performed to excellent effect by Petri Alanko). Cast in four movements, with the opening movement nearly equal in length to the remaining three movements, the work is very accessible if not obviously virtuosic (save for the fact that the soloist does perform on the four instruments noted). The work, if not quite at the level of Nielsen's famous concerto for this instrument, is nonethelss totally enjoyable; a nice "throw-in" to go with the two more famous works on the CD.

I seldom comment on the actual playing length of a CD, preferring instead to let the music speak for itself. But it must be said, in the context of comparing this BIS CD with the Ondine and Naxos CDs, that it contains nearly 75 minutes of music, or about 10 minutes more than the Ondine CD, and nearly 20 minutes more than the Naxos CD, containing the 7th Symphony (but not the Cantus Arcticus). A well-filled CD, then, by any measure, even at its "full" price.

Bob Zeidler

Truly a good, well-performed, and powerful recording. It's played a little quicker (by two minutes) than Pommer's Ondine recording, but that has no bearing at all on this masterful performance. The ONLY thing that the Pommer recording has over Vanska's is that the final climax near the end of the 4th movement is more pronounced, slightly more heart-renderingly performed and recorded. I recommend owning both recordings. You notice nuances and instrumental shadings that each conductor and producer chose to enhance. Rautavaara is definitely one of our greatest living composers (others include Ruders, Part, Vasks, Yoshimatsu). Other works that I recommend by Rautavaara include: Symphony No. 6, the opera Vincent, Symphony No. 5, Cantus Articus, and the choral masterpiece Vigilia.

This CD is beautiful and eerie and will put you in a mood like no other. The service was also great in delivery and very worth the price, which was cheaper than anywhere else.

I had not heard these particular recordings prior to purchasing the CD, and was hoping they would live up to the Ondine versions of Cantus and Angel of Light, with which I was familiar. I find no fault with Vanska's readings of either of these great pieces, and in fact think each is excellent. Dances with Winds is also good. In brief, if you want Angel of Light and Cantus Arcticus on one CD, you won't go wrong purchasing this CD.

This is one of those pieces of music that I only learned about by surfing Amazon. Rautavaara's Symphony #7 deserves all the acclaims it has received from other reviewers. It is beautiful, original, and worthwhile. What's interesting is that if I had to characterize this symphony, it strikes me as a cross between Sibelius and (believe it or not) Vaughan Williams, particularly his Symphony #7 (Sinfonia Antarctica). In fact, I actually hear more of the Sinfonia Antarctica in this music than anything else--more in the sound-world that the symphony creates, as well as the spatial effects and sense of timelessness. It's excellent, and well worth adding to your collection.

I stumbled upon Rautavaara's music by chance, and have been grateful ever since! Eschewing a virtuosistic approach, Rautavaara opts instead for a rich, ocean-like orchestral style which completely envelops the listener. The three works presented in this CD are representative of the best of what this modern composer has to offer, making it an excellent buy for the listener making his first contact with Rautavaara or modern classical music in general.

This collection of some of Rautavaara's best known and most popular works is possibly the best place to start an investigation of his music. The seventh symphony "Angel of Light" was the piece that placed him among the most widely recognized contemporary composers on the international scene, and Osmo Vänskä offers a performance eminently able to compete with Segerstam's premiere recording; and it is even a tad better recorded. It is perhaps a little thin in the strings, but this is still an easily recommendable version.

The flute concerto "Dances with the Wind" (for different kinds of flute) is a beautiful work of almost otherworldly sonorities. Alanko masters the solo parts splendidly without erasing memories of Gallois. The Cantus Arcticus for taped bird sounds and orchestra might sound, on first listening, to aim for rather cheap effects, but it is in truth a highly memorable, atmospheric work more than well worth a listen. And while these works are all available in performances which are at least as good elsewhere, this issue is easily recommended.