Scenes from Finland (SACD)

Jean Sibelius composed “Scaramouche,” a ballet-pantomime commissioned in 1912 by his publishers for a play by Poul Knudsen. The plot reflects the immense interest of the early 20th century in clowns and the Commedia dell’arte, as well as in erotic desire, death, and the macabre—the same phenomena that gave rise to Igor Stravinsky’s “Petrouchka” and Arthur Schönberg’s “Pierrot Lunaire.” Selim Palmgren, a younger contemporary of Sibelius who is best known as a composer of piano music, also wrote music for the theater; his score for the fairy-tale play “Tuhkimo ja kuninkaantytar” (Tuhkimo and the Princess) dates from 1902–03. Larin-Kyosti’s play recounts the adventures of a passionate young man named Tuhkimo and combines features of the well-known “Cinderella” story with elements from a variety of folk tales and fables. Einar Englund studied composition with Palmgren (and later with Aaron Copland). His score for Erik Blomberg’s 1952 film “Valkoinen peura” (The White Reindeer) received particular acclaim, winning the award for Best Original Score at the Jussi Awards (the Finnish Oscars) in the year of its release. Kalervo Tuukkanen taught for three years at the University of Viipuri before serving as a conductor in Pori on the Finnish Baltic coast from 1942 to 1944. He was one of the founding members of “Suomen Saveltajat” (the Finnish Composers’ Association), and his composition “Karhunpyynti” (Bear Hunt) was awarded a silver medal at the 1948 Cultural Olympiad in London (where Finland impressively topped the medal count). “Joulusarja” (Christmas Suite) is taken from his 1953 score for a production of Walter Bauer’s play “The Tale of the Last Shepherd”; its five movements cover the most significant parts of the Christmas story.