There was a strong male choir tradition in Finland in the last century, albeit much indebted to continental models which Sibelius rejuvenated (as Erik Tawaststjerna points out) with such poetic miniatures as The boat journey (''Venematka'') and The lover (''Rakastava''). The present issue includes no fewer than 27 songs for male voice choir that Sibelius composed from The boat journey of 1893 to the transcription he made of the Finlandia Hymn in 1939 for which Koskoniemmi wrote suitably patriotic words. Two of the songs, Guard of the bridge and Triumphal March of the Viipuri Singers are not included on this CD. Of special interest is The lover, which is not otherwise available except in the usual transcription. I should perhaps say that this song exists in four versions: the first for baritone and male choir dating from 1894 recorded here, albeit with a tenor, a second with an accompaniment for string orchestra from the same year, a third for soprano and baritone and mixed choir (1898); and the familiar reworking for strings, timpani and triangle of 1911.
I obviously cannot comment on each of these choruses without exhausting your patience but the numbering of the Op. 18 Partsongs is a minefield and I ought to put the record straight. The appendix in Gerald Abraham's Symposium (London: 1948) lists six songs, as does Lauri Solantera in his 1955 book published in Helsinki. As in other cases, Sibelius would seem to have forgotten the opus numbers he had allotted these pieces and in fact published nine songs in all some with two numbers, some with none at all, I list all these in my ''Master Musidans'' Sibelius (Dent: 1965, rev. 1977). Four have appeared with two opus numbers: No. 1, The broken voice (''Sortunut aani'') also appears as Op. 18 No. 7, No. 2, Hail! Moon (''Terve kuu'') as Op. 18 No. 8; No 3, The boat journey (''Venematka'') as Op. 18 No. 9. Fire on the island (''Saarella palaa'') appears both as Op. 18 No. 3 and elsewhere as Op. 18 No. 4. Furthermore, To the Fatherland (''Isanmaalle'') appears as yet another Op. 18 No. 1 but was also published without any opus number! There is another Op. 18 No. 2—My brothers far away (''Veljeni vierailla mailla'')—also published elsewhere without opus number. (I am not making any of this up! Fabian Dahlstrom's newlypublished catalogue prepared in consultation with Erik Tawastsberna elucidates what is a confusing situation.)
Anyway enough of all this. Obviously no one is going to sit down and play all these pieces straight through. Some of them, such as My heart's song (''Sydameni laulu'') and The broken voice (''Sortunut aani''), both from Op. 18, are touching and so is the ending of The lover, though I have heard more affecting performances of the other movements. The setting of A dream chord (''Ett dromackord'') by Froding is Sibelius at his most inspired, indeed, these songs rarely fall below a high level of invention. This repertoire inevitably places a strain on the upper tenor line and generally speaking the Helsinki chorus meet these demands. Intonation and blend are also good: the tenors sing on the flat side of the note in The broken voice but on the whole I have few grumbles. Fourteen of the songs on the CD are to Finnish texts, one to Latin, and ten to Swedish poems by such figures as Bertel Gripenberg, Froding and Karlfeldt. Worthwhile repertoire, then, much of it completely new to the UK catalogue and very well recorded.'