Lemminkainen Legends (4) [Import]

This is not a well known piece, but it's absolutely gorgeous. Lushly written as you'd expect, it's programmatic, representing part of the first cycle of the Finnish epic.

**Lemminkäinen and the Maidens of Saari**: Lemminkäinen (the hero), sets out to seduce Kyllikki, a maiden of Saari Island. Instead he seduces the other maidens and kidnaps Kyllikki. Later he leaves her to seduce the maiden of Pohjola. He sings, and bewitches her people to leave the farm. Only a cowherd is immune to his spell. All of this makes the cowherd rather cross, (perhaps because all the folks on his farm have decamped?).

**Swan of Tuonela**: this is the one you might recognise. It's a very long epic, and I might be a bit out of sequence here, but in a nutshell, Lemminkäinen is trying to get the maiden's mum Louhi to agree to let him marry the maiden.

Unfortunately, Louhi has already promised her daughter to a smith in return for a sampo, which is a marvelllous gold making machine of some kind. Apparently daughters can be sold in return for goods in this (admittedly ancient and mythical) culture. Charming.

Louhi says that (among other things) he has to hunt and kill the swan in Tuonela River, in the land of the dead. The part where the swan floats serenely down the River of Death has beautiful cor anglais solos and plenty of string tremolo.

**Lemminkäinen in Tuonela**: This legend is full of haunting brass solos, shivery string sections and wierd woodwind passages. The cowherd, who's still enraged about the goings on at the farm, and has been following him all this time presumably, kills Lemminkäinen and throws his body (now in pieces... ewww) into the river. You'll be happy to know the Swan survives the episode.

The sun tells Lemminkäinen's mother where he is and what's happened, so she goes to the land of the dead to find him. She rakes up the pieces (once again, ewww). Next she brings him back to life by sewing him back together and saying some magic phrases.

**Lemminkäinen's Return**: as you might expect, this one depicts our hero's return to his homeland, and is full of 'journeying' passages over land and sea.

This recording is the best one I've heard, the orchestra is full with a luscious sound, the tone colours varied, solos excellent and the performance riveting.

The only thing stopping me from giving it five stars is that I like other Sibelius pieces better.

Although Sibelius gained worldwide fame with his symphonies, he was wildly popular at home before that, as part of the revival of Finnish national pride. In 1896 the crowds cheered his four tone poems depicting the exploits of Lemminkainen, a hero in the Finnish epic, the Kalevala. Another hero, Kullervo, gave Sibelius the theme for a quasi-oratorio in the form of a symphony. Sibelius suppressed that work but kept the Lemminkainen Suite in his repertoire; one segment, the Swan of Tuonela, survives as a light classical chestnut -- it also happens to be great music -- and the final tone poem, Lemminkainen's Return, has achieved some popularity. Now that Kullervo has been championed outside Finland by Colin Davis, Neeme Jarvi, and his son Paavo, I wish this work could gain wider circulation, because it's just as good, if not better. (You will also find it listed as Four Legends.)

The Jarvis, father and son, have done well by the Lemminkainen Suite; a promising version under Esa-Pekka Salonen on Sony is disqualified for me by the conductor's cool, detached approach. I judge performances by atmosphere, intensity, and dramatic sweep. On those counts this recording by the Gothenburg Sym., with their longtime conductor at his best, becomes a first choice, beating out a more crudely played version with the Moscow Phil. under Vassily Sinaisky. This orchestra isn't of world class, so you can't expect the most refined Swan of Tuonela, or the most impressive English horn soloist, but that doesn't matter, really. The playing throughout is more than adequate. Although recorded in 1985, BIS's sound is admirably clear and full.

Sibelius wrote at the time that he felt closer to Liszt than to any other composer, and without telling a story, all four of these tone poems use Lisztian means: we get quasi-sonata form in the first poem, "Lemminkainen and the Miadens of Saari," and in somewhat symphonic sequence there is a slow movement, a faster movement that could be vaguely seen as a scherzo, and a rondo finale, which is written as one long, galloping crescendo. (As with the Mahler Sixth, there is a question about how to order the two inner movements; Jarvi follows the premiere and places the Swan of Tuonela second.) The program notes, which are exhaustive, inform us that Tuonela was the mythical Finnish underworld, and the black swan that swam in its river was a kind of demon protector that Lemminkainen was sent to slay -- a surprise given the gentle beauty of Sibelius's swan music. The hero failed in his quest and was chopped into eight pieces, but like Till Eulenspiegel and Petrushka, he returns in spiritual form for the final tone poem.

I won't say that the two neglected movements are the equal of the two familiar ones, but they are impressive nonetheless, and the whole Suite is a delight, one of those works that deserves much wider hearing. Kullervo is more diffuse and has gained an audience. Now it's Lemminkainen's turn. The only quibble is the CD's stingy timing at just over 49 min.

The other review of this recording is spot on as far as the material and performance goes. However, while most of the recording is very excellent, with a very wide (and realistic) dynamic range, and exceedingly good overall sound, the climaxes are seriously, indeed very seriously, and audibly, overloaded. There is probably 6 dB of clipping in the very last two seconds.

Caveat emptor but only if you are sensitive to this problem.