Einojuhani Rautavaara: String Quintet "Unknown Heavens" / String Quartets 1 & 2 - Jean Sibelius Quartet
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CD Details
Edition: Music CDCD Release Date: 1998-10-20
Music Label: Ondine
Soundtracks:
- String Quintet 'Unknown Heavens': I
- String Quintet 'Unknown Heavens': II
- String Quintet 'Unknown Heavens': III
- String Quintet 'Unknown Heavens': IV
- String Quartet No.1: I Presto
- String Quartet No.1: II Andante
- String Quartet No.1: III Vivace assai (Alla giga)
- String Quartet No.2: I Moderato
- String Quartet 2.: II Allegro
- String Quartet 2.: III Adagio
- String Quartet 2.: IV Animato
Music reviews of Einojuhani Rautavaara: String Quintet "Unknown Heavens" / String Quartets 1 & 2 - Jean Sibelius Quartet
Music Review: Rautavaara's music is initially seductive, but then you'll curse yourself for buying the biggest swindle in contemporary music
Rating: 1 Stars
The Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara gained much buzz in the 1990s for using lush harmonies and basing his compositions on mystical programmes. "Finally," some listeners said, "here's some modern music that the average joe can appreciate." Unfortunately, upon further investigation Rautavaara's compositions turn out to all sound the same. They are revealed as simple sequences of triads over a pedal point in the strings, with a few clusters here and there to add zest, but with no real development. It's hard to see why Rautavaara has won a following from conservative listeners when his music has so much less, well, *musical* content than that of the great masters of the past. This Ondine disc where the Jean Sibelius Quartet perform three works is sadly representative of his output.
The String Quintet "Unknown Heavens" (1997) began as a commission for a string quartet, but Rautavaara felt the need for an extra cello. There are some interesting matters here, especially the Andalucian-Tetouan type playing and decent dramatic arc, but one can feel that Rautavaara is holding back from writing anything more adventurous. He's content just to write out another piece that's basically indistinguishable from "Book of Visions", "Isle of Bliss", or the Eighth Symphony in its musical material, differing only in scoring and tempo.
In the early 1950s Rautavaara was a young prodigy, winning praise from Sibelius and taken on by some of Europe and America's great teachers. The String Quartets No. 1 (1952) and No. 2 (1958) date from his student days. The First is marked by a Finnish folk influence, which gives the music substance and which Rautavaara ultimately left behind. The Second shows interest in the 12-tone technique, but Rautavaara was determined to subject it to some kind of tonal harmony, vaguely reminiscent of Berg. The First, though more substantial than the average Rautavaara, is clearly juvenalia. The Second is based on an idea that had better results in the Third Symphony.
In my opinion, fans of contemporary music should seek out only two of Rautavaara's works. The first is the Symphony No. 3, where a peculiar application of twelve-tone serialism surprisingly results in the greatest symphony Bruckner never wrote. The other work is Cantus Arcticus, a gimmicky but entertaining enough fusion of taped birdsong and sinfonietta. Both can be had at budget price on Naxos disc. The rest of his oeuvre is generally disappointing, and even the pieces like these that are not appallingly empty are average at best.
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