Klami’s three-act ballet Pyorteita (“Whirls”, 1957-61, based on episodes from the Kalevala) was the major project of his last years. Although he declared several times that it was complete, nothing of the Third Act has been found, nor the orchestral score of the First. Kalevi Aho orchestrated the latter in 1988, which is what is presented here, following the two suites Klami himself extracted in 1960 from the Second Act, also available from BIS (12/94). In the booklet for the previous issue Erkki Salmenhaara averred that the rescored First Act “proved to be one of the most remarkable works of Finnish music”. Heard alongside the Second Act Suites, though, the disparity in styles of orchestration becomes glaring: Klami’s own was delicate, chamber-like in places, quite unlike Aho’s which is brilliant, fully textured but very late-1980s.
Both couplings also had a chequered history, detailed in Aho’s fulsome notes. Written between 1940 and 1943 the score of the Violin Concerto was lost following its premiere, and only turned up after Klami had written it again in 1954 (the version recorded here, incorporating many second thoughts from the original). Really quite a fine piece, it is at times very understated and without an overbearing bravura element. It sounds hard enough none the less, and Jennifer Koh plays it beautifully. The overture Suomenlinna (1940; rewritten in 1944 and named after the islands that guard the approaches to Helsinki) is lighter and more nationalistic in tone – as befitted the times – but slighter in quality. There is little that is slight about the playing or recording, both of which are exemplary.GSR