Anonymously Finnish, mostly

BAROQUE MUSIC FROM FINLAND

Anonymous: Pieces for 1–2 descant instruments and basso continuo; Pieces for solo flute; Pieces for keyboard; Hammerschmidt: Sei nun wieder zufrieden, meine Seele; Es danken dir, Gott, die Völker; Düben: A Short Wedding Song; Palm: A Small Song of Joy; Roman: Sonata in D major for violin and basso continuo.

Tuuli Lindeberg (soprano), Opus X ensemble, Petri Tapio Mattson (artistic direction)

Alba ABCD 373

It is a well-known fact that music was made and performed in great quantities in Finland during the 17th and 18th centuries. Nevertheless, Baroque music from Finland is today rarely performed or even talked about.

Petri Tapio Mattson, the founder of the Opus X ensemble specialising in early music, has scanned libraries, archives and private collections, managing to put together a bunch of works with a Finnish connection from this era. Anonymous’s (the most common composer of the release) flute solos open the recording. These late-Baroque pieces are, in fact, galant in style and rendition. Other highlights of the recording include Johan Helmich Roman’s Sonata and, especially, the anonymous (again) cembalo pieces of the Catharina Örhbom manuscript (1759), including Anti Melancholie with its queer chromatic curls, the almost weird Petzin, and the bursting Marche.

Anna-Maaria Oramo performs here – and everywhere – with great skill and flawless Baroque-musical sensibility. The delightful and articulate soprano voice of Tuuli Lindeberg is likewise a joy to listen to. Especially after Andreas Hammerschmidt’s Es danken dir, Gott, die Völker one really wants to push the repeat button.

Thanks to Mattson, Lindeberg and the whole Opus X ensemble for a truly interesting and historically important recording.

Juha Torvinen