This record is of exceptional interest: it collects all the songs that Sibelius originally composed for voice and orchestra together with those for voice and piano that he subsequently orchestrated. Only half of the songs on Flagstad's celebrated record (now reissued on Decca Grandi Voci 414 443-1DG—to be reviewed shortly), which I hope Decca will one day transcribe for compact disc were scored by the composer himself. There are rarities here: ''Koskenlaskian morsiammet'' (variously translated as ''The ferrymans's brides'', or the rapids-shooter's, or more clumsily but doubtless correctly, as The rapids-rider's brides) the only setting of a Finnish poet, August Oksanon on the record. Astra Desmond in her essay on the songs in Gerald Abraham's 1947 symposium, speaks of it without great enthusiam though on the whole she rates it positively. It seems to me very much of its period with strong echoes of the Legends and Kullervo, and could hardly have more powerful advocacy than it does here. Another comparative rarity is Sibelius's transcription of Come away, Death! ( ''Kom nu dit, Dod'') from Twelfth Night, made only a few months before death claimed him and usually heard with guitar accompaniment. The Shakespeare setting is marvellously dark and leaves no doubt that even at the age of 91, none of his orchestral cunning had deserted him. However, the great find here is a newly-discovered song of haunting beauty, Serenade. This begins the record—and rightly so! Not to put too fine a point on it, this is one of Sibelius's very greatest and most subtle songs, and I can't stop playing it. Like the A minor Quartet of 1889 (Finlandia FAD345, 9/85), it was recently discovered by Professor Erik Tawaststjerna. The Serenade dates from 1895, the period of the Lemminkainen Legends, and is a setting of Stagnelius, a Shelley-like figure in Swedish poetry, to whom Sibelius was much attached. It has the greatest delicacy and atmosphere, and its whispering pizzicato strings are wonderfully suggestive. Anyone who knows the Finlandia set of Sibelius songs (FA202LP2—not submitted for review) will need no telling that jorma Hynninen is a great interpreter of this repertoire, and it is strange that he has had such little exposure here. His singing can only be called glorious.
By the side of the Serenade and The rapids-rider's brides, Autumn evening ( ''Hostkvall'') and Luonnotar are almost repertory pieces and Mari Anne Haggander, to whom the second side is allotted, has formidable competition to face from Flagstad and Nilsson (Decca SXL6185, 12/85—nla) as well as Tom Krause on the recent Gramophone Award-winning Argo set. One delight is the Sunrise from 1902, which I had not heard in its orchestral form before, and which has enormous charm. The well-known Runeberg setting, Since then I have questioned no further, could perhaps have more dramatic intensity but Haggander manages the demanding tessitura of Arioso and Luonnotar with much artistry, and her Luonnotar is certainly to be preferred to Elisabeth Soderstrom's with the Philharmonia under Ashkenazy (Decca SXDL7517, 5/81). Her vibrato is minimal and her pitch dauntingly accurate. She succeeds beautifully, too, in achieving pp tone on the top B towards the end of the piece. Jorma Panula proves a sensitive accompanist and secures fine playing from the Gothenburg orchestra. Two small points: the excellent presentation omits the texts of the first five songs including the Serenade, and unusually from this source, the surface on two of the songs was not so silent as I would have liked, but I trust this will not be the case with copies offered for sale. In any event, this is an indispensable complement to the Argo complete Sibelius songs (411 739-1ZH5, 2/85) and must be recommended with all possible enthusiasm.'