Customer Reviews

Symphony 1 / King Lear Ouverture

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Klami is Finland's second favorite composer, right behind Sibelius. It is a scandal he is not better known outside Finland, for his music, as evidenced by this CD of the First Symphony and King Lear Overture, deserves a wider hearing. Although comparing Klami to any other composer does him an injustice, since he is very much his own man with an unmistakably individual voice, to get an idea of what sort of music he composes one might say he sounds like a combination of Tchiakovsky and Sibelius, with a Sibelius like chordal underpinnings and a melodic style faintly similar to Tchiakovsky. The First Symphony is an excellent work, with excellent melodies, masterful development, and satisfying climaxes. Why it is not in the standard repetoire is anybody's guess. The King Lear Overture is another very fine work, with some terrific orchestration of a musical portrayal of a storm.

I thought I had discovered almost all of the more modern Scandinavian composers, when I recently discovered a disc of Klami's first symphony. I fully agree with the other reviewers. It is a masterful work, full of wonderful melodies and constructions. I am eager to find and enjoy Klami's other works and highly recommend this CD.

Agree with the above review, can't praise this symphony and performance enough. The second movement reminds of Walton's first symphony, the outer movements. For those willing to venture outside the mainstream, acquire this and enjoy.

The music of Uuno Klami has deservedly been decently exposed on disc, but this two-part series from Ondine still comprises the only available recordings of his symphonies. They are fabulous if not exactly ground-breaking works that deserve to be heard much more frequently than they are; fortunately the recordings at hand, by the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra under Tuomas Ollila, leave little to be desired. The first symphony was written in 1937-38 and suggests that Klami had already made his peace with the ever-present shadow of Sibelius in Finnish musical life. Formally, the symphony seems (to a certain extent) to employ the Russian Silver Age symphonies as its model; content-wise, there is much that will suggest Sibelius to a casual listener though one suspects it might have more to do with a common root in Finnish folk culture and folk music than any direct influence.

Stylistically I would perhaps rather mention Tchaikovsky, Madetoja and Myaskovsky as the main comparisons, but the musical language is unified and personal enough. Despite the composer's advocacy of neo-classicism, the music on this disc is firmly romantic, although Klami employs some unusual harmonic sequences and textures. The themes are strong, bold and memorable and the scoring is splendid. The finale is particularly captivating, crowning a truly rewarding work. The King Lear overture (1944-45) is dramatic and dark; it belongs to the same sound-world as the symphony and is almost equally rewarding. Both works receive truly marvelous, full-bodied and luminous performances and the recording is excellent. Overall a magnificent disc, enthusiastically recommended.