The most wonderful thing about Rautavaara’s songs is that no matter what the technical basis of his compositional method, he understands that “song” means an evocative text set to a singable melody. You may not go away humming all of the tunes here, particularly in the brief, powerful, and oddly disturbing cycle God’s Way (to poems by Bo Setterlind), but there’s no questioning the fundamental rightness of Rautavaara’s reaction to the words, or his ability to project his feelings into an expressive vocal line. That’s not something to be taken for granted nowadays, when grateful and effective writing for the voice is no longer the basis of most composers’ techniques, whether writing for people or for instruments.
The remaining four sets of songs on this disc all employ texts of the highest quality, by Shakespeare (in English, by the way), Rilke, and Finnish poet Aleksis Kivi. The Rilke settings are particularly moving, nowhere more so than The Lovers, whose third song, “Woman Loving”, ought to be a recital classic by now. The three songs taken from the opera Aleksis Kivi also deserve to find a life of their own away from the larger work. They stand among the most hauntingly beautiful of Rautavaara’s latest creations. Baritone Gabriel Suovanen sings all of this music with warm tone and great musical intelligence, and he couldn’t be better accompanied than by Segerstam and the Helsinki Philharmonic. Ideally balanced sound rounds out this most enticing picture of Rautavaara’s generously lyrical art. [2/6/2007]
