The comparison between Kilpinen and Wolf, though repeatedly made, is one that will not travel the whole distance. Certainly their fortunes in the record catalogues have been very unlike, though effectively starting out at roughly the same time. HMV's Wolf Society was founded in 1931 and the Kilpinen Song Society followed in 1936, with an edition limited to 400, each set autographed by the composer: there it ended, however, while the Wolf Society went on with great success. The next half-century did nothing to change the proportions, and in many years Kilpinen's name has been absent from The Classical Catalogue altogether. Since the time of Gerhard Husch, who was the singer in that pioneering Society issue, two others have been prominent in a continuing bid to keep Kilpinen in the public eye: one has been the bass Kim Borg, the other the singer on this present record, both of them fellow-countrymen of the composer.
Hynninen is a strong interpreter, and his partnership with Ralf Gothoni is a formidable one. Together they explore the full dynamic and expressive range, while avoiding anything that might seem a mere performer's tour de force. The third song in the Lieder um den Tod cycle is a good example of their strength in restraint (which, perhaps one should add, has not always been their apparent policy). This is a dialogue between Death and a drunkard: Death asks the questions, the drunk replies with the tippler's invariable ''health'' (''Dein Wohl''). In a 1959 recording by Borg (available again, now on Finlandia (CD) FACD809), Death is unequivocally a terror, and the drunk is paralytic. Hynninen makes Death a traveller, at first an almost casual acquaintance who might well pass by, and the drunk, though tipsy, is less of a caricature. In the other songs, where Borg sings with magnificent voice but relatively monochromatic tone, Hynninen brings weariness and pallor into his voice, which can still ring out with exciting power and vigour when the need arises.
These are probably the most memorable of the songs, though the Spielmannslieder tend to be more often performed, and the Op. 79 songs seem hardly to deserve the commentator's criticism that they are of uneven quality. These are all in German, and texts but no translations are supplied. The five Lakeus songs are in Finnish, and again there are no translations, while the booklet-notes hardly help by referring to ''a ruggedness'' in the songs, which compared with the others seem remarkably lyrical and gentle in their flow. The recording is clear and well-balanced.'