Chandos led off their Madetoja series in August with the Third Symphony and the delightful Comedy Overture and this sequel coupling the first two is hardly less successful. To recapitulate for the sake of readers who do not have that issue to hand, Leevi Madetoja (1887–1947) was a Sibelius pupil, though their relations were briefly strained at the time of the First Symphony (1914–15) which was dedicated to Kajanus. It breathes much the same air as Sibelius, Strauss, perhaps Reger and the Russian post-Nationalists such as Glazunov—and there are Gallic touches too. Both symphonies (the Second comes from 1916–18) evince a sense of purpose and a feeling for proportion that is striking. (As a conductor Madetoja championed many French composers including d'Indy with whom he had hoped to study, as well as such figures as Szymanowski and Janacek.)
The French critic Henri-Claude Fantapie wrote of him combining four worlds: that of ''romantic post-Mendelssohnian neo-classicism, that emanating from French post-romanticism with its classical and impressionist tendencies of rigour clarity and modesty, that of neighbouring Russia and finally, that of the nature and civilization of his own country'' which places him in a nutshell, save for the considerable debt to Sibelius. Just listen to the slow movement of the Second Symphony, whose harmonies at one point even anticipate Tapiola. If he is not a master of the first order he is a sensitive and cultured composer with a refined technique and engaging manner. Generally speaking I have found Petri Sakari's accounts with the Icelandic orchestra more persuasive than those by Segerstam and Rautio (on Finlandia) good though these were, and they are certainly recorded with the utmost naturalness. Recommended.'