RAUTAVAARA : Complete Works for Male Choir (YL Male Voice Choir · Talla Vocal Ensemble · Matti & Pasi Hyökki) 2CD (2008) FLAC (tracks+.cue) lossless

Since Einojuhani Rautavaara is still actively composing, it might seem premature to label a collection his Complete Works for Male Chorus, but there is already enough material to fill out two CDs. Rautavaara is an exceptionally prolific composer, and he has been writing for men's voices since early in career; the pieces collected here span more than 50 years. The composer is a master of graceful choral writing; each piece is put together with skill and imagination. It's unfortunate that the pieces aren't presented in chronological order, since it would have been helpful to hear the composer's growth. As it is, this ordering tends to homogenize the impression of Rautavaara's styles, and while his versatility is evident from piece to piece, and individual works are striking, it's easy for a sense of monotony to set in over the course of the nearly 100 minutes of music. The composer favors dense textures and the unrelenting sound of massed a cappella low voices over such a long time tends to dull the ear and makes it easy to miss the felicities of individual works. The pieces with sections for a solo voice stand out dramatically for the textural contrast they provide. The best way to appreciate these works would be to savor a few at a time. The YL Male Voice Choir, led by Matti Hyökki, and the Talla Vocal Ensemble, led by Pasi Hyökki, sing with excellent intonation and blend, and their tone is rounded and full. Ondine's sound is present and warm; it's hard to know whether or not the engineers could have done anything to alleviate the darkness of such bass-heavy repertoire. Stephen Eddins
Tracklist & Credits :

SIBELIUS : Miscellaneous Works (2011) Serie The Sibelius Edition – Vol. 13 | 4CD BOX-SET | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

The final volume of the BIS Sibelius Edition is released almost exactly four years after the launch of the project in 2007. A main point of interest in this particular instalment – Miscellaneous Works – is the Masonic Ritual Music, Op.113 – here recorded for the first time with the original texts. Sibelius had become a freemason in 1922, soon after the foundation of the first modern Finnish lodge after the Russian ban on freemasonry in 1809. The music – set for tenor, male-voice choir and organ –  was written in response to a request for ‘special, genuinely Finnish music for the lodge’, and for it Sibelius used Finnish texts, including translations from German, Swedish and Chinese. Although the main part of Op.113 was composed in 1927, Sibelius made additions and revisions over the years, and the present performance (which is based on the 1950 edition), thus includes two pieces from 1946 believed to be his last original compositions. Two of the movements in the Masonic Music are for solo organ, and Volume 13 also includes Sibelius remaining solo works for that instrument, such as the striking Surusoitto (‘Mournful Music’) which Sibelius wrote for the 1931 funeral of the painter Gallen-Kallela, a friend of long standing. There are also a number of fragments and sketches included here, for instance of a projected musical adaptation of H.C. Andersen’s tale The Little Mermaid for string quartet and recitation, and a set of brief piano pieces for children. Of particular interest is the more substantial orchestral fragment of a projected tone poem entitled Luonnotar. In 1906 Sibelius had a change of heart, and recomposed much of the material included in the fragment into a new piece, Pohjola’s Daughter. Rounding off the edition on Disc 3 of the four CDs included here is the composer himself, conducting his own Andante festivo in a recording made during a live radio broadcast in 1939. Also on that disc is a video file of the classic ‘Jean Sibelius at Home’ film based on documentary material filmed in 1927 and 1945. As an appendix, a fourth CD contains music by contemporaries, friends and pupils of Sibelius, including Ferruccio Busoni and Robert Kajanus. With this final instalment a separate booklet with the complete index to the recordings and works included in the entire edition is provided, as a key to the 80+ hours of music that form the lifework of Sibelius. BIS   Tracklist & Credits