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Cover: Einojuhani Rautavaara – Song of My Heart · Orchestral Songs

Einojuhani Rautavaara

Song of My Heart

Orchestral Songs

Gabriel Suovanen, baritone
Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
Leif Segerstam, conductor

ODE 1085-2 · CD · October 2006

Buy / listen

Track listing

19 tracks · 57:21

Listen to samples on selected tracks.

Einojuhani Rautavaara

  1. Three Sonnets of Shakespeare (1951/2005) 7:48
  2. 1 That Time of Year 3:02
  3. 2 When I Do Count the Clock 2:47
  4. 3 Shall I Compare Thee 1:59
  5. Fünf Sonette an Orpheus (Five Sonnets to Orpheus) (1955-56/1960) 12:26
  6. 4 Da stieg ein Baum (A Tree Arose) 2:12
  7. 5 Und fast ein Mädchen wars (A Maiden Almost) 2:11
  8. 6 Ein Gott vermags (A God Can Do It) 2:38
  9. 7 O ihr Zärtlichen (O Tender Ones) 3:23
  10. 8 Errichtet keinen Denkstein (Raise No Memorial) 2:02
  11. Die Liebenden (The Lovers) (1958-59/1964) 18:28
  12. 9 Liebes-Lied (Love Song) 3:37
  13. 10 Der Schauende (Man Looking) 6:43
  14. 11 Die Liebende (Woman Loving) 4:43
  15. 12 Der Tod der Geliebten (The Death of the Beloved) 3:24
  16. Guds väg (God's Way) (1964/2003) 6:19
  17. 13 Guds väg (God's Way) 2:04
  18. 14 Barnet (The Child) 1:52
  19. 15 Pingst (Pentecost) 0:56
  20. 16 Dröm i katedralen (Dream in the Cathedral) 1:29
  21. Three Songs from the Opera Aleksis Kivi (1997) 12:19
  22. 17 Ikävyys (Melancholy) 4:45
  23. 18 Laulu oravasta (The Squirrel) 3:21
  24. 19 Sydämeni laulu (Song of My Heart) 4:13

About this recording

This is the first anthology on CD of Finnish cult composer Einojuhani Rautavaara's orchestral songs. Rautavaara composed these Shakespeare and Rilke songs in his twenties but revised them later and in recent years when he reaffirmed his love of literature and poetry. The religious and metaphysical dimension in his music is manifest in the song cycle God's Way, a setting of Swedish poetry by Bo Sitterlind. The three final songs are Rautavaara's own excerpts from his opera Aleksis Kivi and employ texts by the great Finnish poet.

Baritone Gabriel Suovanen is accompanied by the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and their Chief Conductor Leif Segerstam, who have a lengthy pedigree in their compatriot's music.

Features

Booklet with liner notes written by the composer, in English, German, French and Finnish, and the song lyrics in the original language and in English; slipcase

Press

These are important songs by an indispensable composer, realized with one of the most striking performances of a male singer caught on disc in the past year.
Christopher Williams, Fanfare Magazine, January/February 2008

This exceedingly successful production offers interesting insight into the Lied oeuvre of Einojuhani Rautavaara. His songs cannot be better performed than by Gabriel Suovanen with Leif Segerstam and the Helsinki Philharmonic.
Tobias Pfleger, klassik.com, March 20, 2007, *****

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.
David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com, February 2007, Disc of the Month, Artistic Quality 10 / Sound Quality 10

A beautifully produced survey of Rautavaara's songs. (...) Ondine's sound, as ever, is first rate.
Guy Rickards, Gramophone, December 2006

This production combines half a century of musical poetry. (...) A wonderful, sometimes even dreamlike recording, which requires much calm from the listener, but gives back to him at least as much calm and beauty.
Rasmus van Rijn, klassik-heute.com, September 10, 2006

The artists

Gabriel Suovanen

Gabriel Suovanen was born in Stockholm, where he began playing the violin at the age of 4. He studied singing at the Sibelius Academy in 1993-94. He graduated from the Stockholm Opera School in the 1997-98 season. Gabriel Suovanen has won several prizes in distinguished singing competitions. In Finland he won the prestigious Timo Mustakallio singing competition in 1998 and was given the first Karita Mattila Award in 2000. In 1997-98 Gabriel Suovanen was appointed 'Soloist of the year' by the Swedish National Radio and subsequently appeared in several radio concerts and studio recordings with orchestra and as soloist. In the season 1998-99 he was engaged in several productions at the Stockholm Royal Opera. Suovanen made his debut at the Finnish National Opera as Guglielmo, at the Savonlinna Opera Festival as Valentin and at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Bizet's Carmen.

Full biography

Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra

The Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, the first professional symphony orchestra to be founded in the Nordic countries (1882), has grown from a band of 36 players to an orchestra of 102 regular members.

Full biography

Leif Segerstam

Leif Segerstam (1944-2024) received diplomas from the Sibelius Academy in violin and conducting. He won the Maj Lind Piano Competition in 1962 and gave his first violin recital in 1963. He rounded off his studies at the Juilliard School in New York, where he was awarded a conducting diploma in 1964.

Full biography