Rautavaara: Garden of Spaces; Clarinet Concerto; Cantus Arcticus
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List Price:
$17.98
Finland Hotels Travel Price: $17.98
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Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Ondine
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0761195104125
Label: Ondine
Manufacturer: Ondine
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Ondine
Release Date: 2005-05-24
Studio: Ondine
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Another Fine Clarinet Concerto
Comment: Einojuhani Rautavaara (1928-) is enjoying a measure of international popularity in his old age. Cantus Arcticus, included on this CD, has almost the status of a cult favorite. It's a leisurely, meditative suite of three musical impressions: 1 The Bog, 2 Melancholy, & 3 Swans Migrating. It has a gimmick, the sounds of real birds recorded in the arctic, which are incorporated into the music. It's lovely, this song of the arctic. It's easy listening if you're in the right mood, and it's not without musical substance. I can't imagine not liking this piece, yet I can't really call it profound.
The comparison of Rautavaara with Sibelius is inevitable, not just because they are both Finnish, but because they both have written music of such appealing nature that their compositional limitations are more or less irrelevant. Both seem truly to have been inspired by the landscape of their native Finland, with its endless empty boreal forests, misty bogs, and arctic whiteness. Rautavaara's music is always vast and wind-swept, even in miniatures. Virtuosity seems insignificant in such a bleak beauty.
The biggest piece on this disk is Rautavaara's Clarinet Concerto, written for and played by Richard Stoltsman. I've written reviews recently of two other clarinet concertos, by Wolfgang Mozart and by Anders Hillborg. Rautavaara's work is not in the same class as those two monuments, which is why I've given this CD only four stars. It's a striking composition, without a dull moment or a lapse of attention, and it's easier to grasp structurally and harmonically than the Hillborg, but it fails, for me at least, to evoke more than musical admiration. I think Rautavaara intends something more affective emotionally than he achieves. Emotional responses to music, of course, are subjective; perhaps other listeners will hear and feel more.
Garden of Spaces is well titled. It's a big sculpture of chords in granite blocks, a lot of sound and much of it jarring, with what Henry Moore called "negative space" in the form of pianissimos and silences. It's a weighty piece, one that I'd very much like to hear in concert, but which doesn't entirely "fit" into a home stereo system.
Rautavaara is a reluctant modernist. His idiom is more distinctive aesthetically than technically. To be frank, that's probably the source of his current vogue, a modern voice speaking a familiar dialect. On the whole, if you're looking for a powerful modern musical voice from the Northlands, you might find Hillborg, Per Norgard, or Magnnus Lindberg more permanently interesting.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Rautavaara before and after his great stagnation
Comment: This Ondine disc contains three pieces from Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara that are pretty representative of his later career. There are two pieces from the early 1970s, when he was an entertaining but fairly average neo-tonalist, and a recent concerto from his "I'm just milking it" period of success.
Here we have a new recording of what is probably Rautavaara's most well-known piece. "Cantus Arcticus" (1972), subtitled "concerto for birds and orchestra", pairs the orchestra with recordings of birds made in north Finland above the arctic circle. The orchestral writing serves to provide subdued counterpoint to the birds, who in the first two movements are in the spotlight, while in the third the string begin imitating migrating swans and ultimately replace them in an elegant climax. The orchestral writing includes some aleatorism, but this is not very noticeable even if one compares different recordings. In terms of balance, this Ondine recording is the best I've heard, slightly better than the Naxos; in other recordings the birds are often too low in the mix. It's a charming piece, and it's no wonder that it has become Rautavaara's most widely performed work. Still, after hearing the piece several times, one begins to notice a lack of substance in the music, which turns out to be common to most of Rautavaara's music.
"Garden of Spaces" (1973, rev. 2001) was originally titled "Regular Sets of Elements in a Semi-Regular Situation". It is among Rautavaara's only aleatoric pieces, where the conductor can choose when to signal the entrance of various regular and precisely notated units. In writing a set of separate units, Rautavaara has provided the music with a little more variety than in the main body of his work, and the piece is fine light music.
Rautavaara's lush soundworld became increasingly homogenous over the years, and the sales success of his Symphony No. 7 "Angel of Light" gave him no impetus to evolve stylistically. The "Clarinet Concerto" (2001) is a sad example from this last phrase, where one hears the very same neo-romantic stock gestures found in everything else he has written lately. Richard Stoltzman is, with Kari Kriiku, among the greatest clarinetists of modern repertoire, and the solo line does show off his technical skills. The whole form of the piece, however, as well as the orchestration is disappointingly stale.
If you are a fan of more substantial contemporary music who wants to hear Rautavaara's work to know what the now-fading fad was all about, the Naxos disc with "Cantus Arcticus" is an economical purchase. I cannot recommend his work in general, since so much of it is fluff with composers like Per Norgard are writing music that is accessible and yet boundlessly deep.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Jazz for the classical listener
Comment: Garden of Spaces is very nice. Well-written, solidly-performed.
Cantus Articus is fine. Although this performance is as good as any -- and far better than the other two I've heard -- I'm just not sophisticated enough (maybe) to listen to the bird noises. They bug me. Just a personal issue, I know, but I can't handle it.
But the Clarinet Concerto is out of this world. Truly. Personally, I feel this piece in a jazz sense. Don't get me wrong -- it doesn't swing or have cheesy blues riffs. Instead, if you've ever understood a really fine jazz performance, this recording will ring true. Stoltzman plays so fluidly and honestly he could be improvising. The orchestral structure is perfect -- complex, beautiful and exciting. Rautavaara manages to keep a tonal feel while stretching harmonies. Overall, it feels like the sophisticated version of Stan Getz's "Focus." If you are trying to convert a friend from jazz to classical, give them this work. Unreal.
Customer Rating:
Summary: One word: Gorgeous
Comment: This music is stunning and the playing is fantastic! The music of the Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara (b. 1928) is becoming relatively well known thanks in part to the enterprising Ondine and BIS labels. For those unfamiliar with Rautavaara, this disc makes an excellent introduction to this composer.
This performance of the Cantus Arcticus - Concerto for Birds and Orchestra, Rautavaara's best known work, is the finest available. The orchestral playing is extremely clear and is perfectly balanced against the recorded birdsong, which itself is also very clear on the present recording. The birdsong accompaniment, consisting of the calls of larks, swans and other avian species, was recorded in Limuka, in northern Finland. In my opinion, the combination of recorded sounds with orchestral playing is seldom successful. This piece, however, might be the exception, as Rautavaara's writing is masterful and is never less than beautiful. In fact, this is probably the most beautiful piece of music composed in recent years. The soaring melodic lines and ethereal string texture perfectly compliment the birdsong. This is an amazing piece, which transports the listener to a different world, that is, unless the listener already happens to be sitting on the shores of a bog in northern Finland. The recording of this piece alone is worth the price of this disc.
The Clarinet Concerto (premiered in 2001) is a recent work, and is immediately identifiable as Rautavaara. Similar to orchestral pieces which contain recorded sounds, concertos for the clarinet are usually not my favorite pieces of music, yet Rautavaara manages to compose a very beautiful and compelling work. The clarinetist, Richard Stoltzman, for whom the concerto was written, does an amazing job with the difficult solo part, which requires some of the highest clarinet playing I have heard (listen for what I believe is the world record high note 6 minutes into the first movement). The piece begins in a modern and spiky fashion, but the entrance of a noble horn theme changes the mood completely. From that point onward, the music is lyrical and haunting, with the personal style of Rautavaara is quite identifiable, evidencing itself through broad lyricism and swirling accompaniment that is evocative of the Northern landscape. The middle movement is based upon a long lyrical clarinet line, and is also quite lovely. The finale is almost playful, but is terser than the previous two movements. Like many modern works, the concerto ends somewhat ambiguously, with the clarinet in its highest register over pounding drums.
The Garden of Spaces is very much within the same genre as the other two works. The orchestral writing is very atmospheric, yet dramatic and beautiful. As with the previous two pieces, the broad melodic lines over the wind-like swirling of the flutes and violins, is what identifies this music as being from the pen of Rautavaara. Although, this work is somewhat unique, as the different orchestral groups enter at the discretion of the conductor, with the order in which the different orchestral groups enter not specified. The result is that no one performance of this work will sound like another. Although, I was unable to pick up on this before reading the composer's notes, as the ending result sounds very purposeful.
In summary, this is gorgeous. This release is also important, as it continues to make the case for Rautavaara, as one of the greatest composers of the modern era. If you give this music a chance, I am sure you won't be disappointed, I certainly wasn't. Get it.
59:08
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Clarinet concerto like NO other...
Comment: This is a Clarinet Concerto like NO other. A truly unique experience in music.Stoltzman (for whom it was written/with his input) is arguably the best Clarinetist on the Planet and in this concerto you WILL hear why. He coaxes both beautiful and other-worldly sounds from his instrument without ever really sounding atonal. this is, for the most part, a tonal piece of music and a GREAT one. Right on the edge as is rautavaara's style. And Stoltzman is ASTOUNDING. His various timbres and control are magnificent. I am a musician (a pretty good one too) and what he does here just simply makes my hair stand up and takes my breath away. Cantus Arcticus is here in the best version I have heard. The Helsinki Orchestra led by Rautavaara conductor extaordinaire, Leif Segerstam, give a Beautiful, graceful, virtuostic and definitive performance that just surrounds you and lifts you up to soar with the birds. As they also do during the entire CD. A main reason for this is the Sound...SPECTACULAR...Clean, clear,spacious with a wide dynamic range. Can't imagine recorded sound being much better than this. Reason alone to get this CD if you are a Rautavaara fan..
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