Track Listing

1. Sym No. 1: 1. Allegro Non Troppo
2. Sym No. 1: 2. Prestissimo
3. Sym No. 1: 3. Andante Molto
4. Sym No. 1: 4. Allegro Maestoso
5. Sym No. 1: 5. King Lear Ouverture, Op. 33

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #467095 in Music
• Released on: 1996-01-23
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com
Uuno Klami (1900-1961) is probably the most significant composer to come out of Finland after Jean Sibelius. His music does occasionally partake of some of Sibelius's moody atmospherics, but Klami also has absorbed quite a lot from Debussy. His Symphony 1, composed in 1937-38, is more classically structured than any symphony by Sibelius and he relies on unusual chord arrangements that nonetheless evoke their own Scandanavian landscape. Not an easy feat. The overture to King Lear (1945) is all that survives of an aborted stage production and an earlier four-piece suite. It's not as depressing as you'd think it'd be. --Paul Cook

Customer Reviews

Neglected masterpiece
Klami is Finland's second favorite composer, right behind Sibelius. It is a scandal he is not better known outside Finland, for his music, as evidenced by this CD of the First Symphony and King Lear Overture, deserves a wider hearing. Although comparing Klami to any other composer does him an injustice, since he is very much his own man with an unmistakably individual voice, to get an idea of what sort of music he composes one might say he sounds like a combination of Tchiakovsky and Sibelius, with a Sibelius like chordal underpinnings and a melodic style faintly similar to Tchiakovsky. The First Symphony is an excellent work, with excellent melodies, masterful development, and satisfying climaxes. Why it is not in the standard repetoire is anybody's guess. The King Lear Overture is another very fine work, with some terrific orchestration of a musical portrayal of a storm.

Another Underappreciated Scandinavian master
I thought I had discovered almost all of the more modern Scandinavian composers, when I recently discovered a disc of Klami's first symphony. I fully agree with the other reviewers. It is a masterful work, full of wonderful melodies and constructions. I am eager to find and enjoy Klami's other works and highly recommend this CD.

must hear this!
Agree with the above review, can't praise this symphony and performance enough. The second movement reminds of Walton's first symphony, the outer movements. For those willing to venture outside the mainstream, acquire this and enjoy.