Not all Finlandia CDs are released internationally and at first sight the present disc looks like an odd choice. Dig deeper and the story behind its making is in some ways as remarkable as the music­making it contains. Like Marin Alsop’s Concordia orchestra‚ the Estonian­Finnish Symphony Orchestra is very much a personal project. Anu and Kadri Tali‚ idealistic and photogenic identical twins‚ founded it in 1997 and have kept it going by dint of sheer hard work and the successful courting of local corporate sponsors. Four times a year they invite young Estonian musicians working abroad back to Estonia to present‚ alongside Finnish near­neighbours and other players from around the world‚ carefully ‘themed’ programmes like this nature­inspired début disc. No one is likely to buy the collection for the sake of La mer which is probably just as well. Despite vivid and translucent recording‚ balance problems emerge: there’s a surfeit of twinkly percussion and the orchestra’s lightweight string body and eager woodwinds sound confused in the disappointingly flabby closing stages. With Anu inclined to over­interpret‚ sitting on individual phrases at the expense of overall thrust‚ the effect is lumpy‚ becalmed and not very idiomatic. Nor does she follow the example of Ansermet and Karajan in restoring the finale’s fanfares as present in Debussy’s 1905 score from bar 237 (6'43"ff) – always a surprise if you’re expecting them. The Sibelius is much more convincing‚ though more romantic in feeling than some will like. There’s no mistaking the real focus of the anthology. The instrumental music of the Estonian composer Veljo Tormis (b1930) is barely represented on disc and both the pieces here are receiving first recordings. Ocean was presumed lost until tracked down by Anu Tali and the composer himself recently. A suite from incidental music‚ its invention seems primarily illustrative‚ but it is expertly put together‚ the specifically local qualities we know from Tormis’s choral music contending with the brand of socialist realism favoured by Estonia’s Soviet overlords. Tracks 2 and 7 sound like waltzes from Prokofiev or Shostakovich; track 6 is almost unadulterated Sibelius; track 3 begins and ends in Rautavaara territory. Swan Flight is another suite‚ this one deriving from a chamber opera of 1965 as refashioned in 1971. It featured in the orchestra’s very first concert‚ jointly conducted by Anu Tali and the now familiar young Finn‚ Mikko Franck. Again the sections are too brief to allow for substantial development‚ and again there is a contrast of manners: the opening ‘Arrival of the Swans’ (with yearning female chorus) has potentially wide Classic FM appeal (track 12)‚ whereas the second has something of the austerity of late Shostakovich; track 16 even incorporates some bars of 1960s avant­garderie – it suits the plot. All in all an intriguing mix‚ and the designer packaging includes some helpful annotations too.