Rautavaara Works for Violin and Piano
A fascinating collection casting light on Finland’s most eminent living composer
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Einojuhani Rautavaara
Genre:
Chamber
Label: Ondine
Magazine Review Date: 10/2011
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 70
Mastering:
Stereo
DDD
Catalogue Number: ODE11772
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Lost Landscapes |
Einojuhani Rautavaara, Composer
Einojuhani Rautavaara, Composer Paavali Jumppanen, Piano Pekka Kuusisto, Violin |
Summer Thoughts |
Einojuhani Rautavaara, Composer
Einojuhani Rautavaara, Composer Paavali Jumppanen, Piano Pekka Kuusisto, Violin |
April Lines |
Einojuhani Rautavaara, Composer
Einojuhani Rautavaara, Composer Paavali Jumppanen, Piano Pekka Kuusisto, Violin |
Notturno e danza |
Einojuhani Rautavaara, Composer
Einojuhani Rautavaara, Composer Paavali Jumppanen, Piano Pekka Kuusisto, Violin |
Variétude |
Einojuhani Rautavaara, Composer
Einojuhani Rautavaara, Composer Pekka Kuusisto, Violin |
Dithyrambos |
Einojuhani Rautavaara, Composer
Einojuhani Rautavaara, Composer Paavali Jumppanen, Piano Pekka Kuusisto, Violin |
The Fiddlers, 'Pelimannit' |
Einojuhani Rautavaara, Composer
Einojuhani Rautavaara, Composer Paavali Jumppanen, Piano Pekka Kuusisto, Violin |
Author: Guy Rickards
Lost Landscapes (2005) is Rautavaara’s largest violin-and-piano duo by far, a wistful evocation of four places where he had studied in the mid-1950s: Tanglewood, Ascona, Vienna and New York, although the volatile “Wall Street” finale does finally break the prevailingly nostalgic mood. The brief Summer Thoughts (2008, but a reworking of an earlier piece) restores the calm but is too insubstantial for a successful title-track. April Lines is more turbulent, reflecting its chequered history.
Kuusisto and Jumppanen are persuasive executants – Rautavaara’s challenging technical demands are thrown off with élan – but the violin’s often edgy intonation does not sit well with the dreamier inspirations, with Lost Landscapes suffering especially in this respect. Where the performers are at their best is in The Fiddlers, Rautavaara’s vivacious folk-music piano suite (1952), delivered in lively and fully competitive fashion by Jumppanen (rivalling his eminent stablemate Izumi Tateno), and prefaced here by Kuusisto playing unaccompanied the folk tunes on which it was based, in Samuel Rinta-Nikkola’s sparkling original notations. Top-notch sound.
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