Uuno Klami (1900 - 1961), was a Finnish composer born in Virolahti. His music is influenced greatly by Spanish and French composers - especially Ravel, with whose music he had a special rapport; and he has also been said to have taken on the mantle of Finland's National composer after the death of Sibelius, since Klami's love of the Finnish national saga, The Kalevala, gave him lifelong inspiration and composed much music around its legends. Given that Klami is of Franco-Russian descent, it is hardly surprising to hear his orchestrations being a blend of the Finnish / Scandanavian school of composition and the more cosmopolitan and avant-garde orchestral treatments of the likes of Debussy and the Western Europeans.
By the time of his writing this first symphony, Klami had already composed some of his most durable and fanous works, such as 'Sea Pictures', The Karelian Rhapsody, and his first piano concerto. However, Klami still remains an obscure and seldom-played composer outside of Finland sadly. In the recording I listened to on YouTube, the symphony was played by The Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Tuomas Ollila.
Sadly, little is known of Klami and his life. He was a lone and solitary figure, and a 4-time war veteran, who held his cards very close to his chest both personally and professionally. He had a profound, inner seriousness which he rarely dispensed with, and so the joy, light and jocular qualities in his music was his way of self-expression. The music is very poetic; his musical explorations of The Kalevala can be described as lyrical, pompous, but never too self-indulgent. I think if I were to visualise his music, I would do so as a series of cartoons rather than as a dramatic cimematic tragedy.
In his first symphony (in four movements), the first movement is vast, majestic, sweeping, grandiose, highly tuneful and flirts happily between Romantic and more advanced contemporary compositional styles. The second movement starts slowly, quietly, gracefully, with a moment of joy and release in the middle before ending sedately. It is a truly beautiful and melodic piece of writing. The third movement is tragi-heroic, a slow, melancholic dramatic melody. Whilst once we get to the fourth movement the tempo is upped and it's an urgent, pulsating and joyful quasi-cinematic theme. The use of the brass - almost like an Oompah band in the denouement was a lovely idea.
Klami had no formal music training, and yet his music stands there with the best of them. It's quite a unique sound though, and perhaps can be said to be the musical bridge between Sibelius and Stravinsky.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 18/5/20 .
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