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Cover: Erkki Melartin – The Complete Symphonies

Erkki Melartin

The Complete Symphonies

Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra
Leonid Grin, conductor

ODE 931-2T · CD · May 1999

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Track listing

24 tracks · 197:30

Listen to samples on selected tracks.

CD 1

Erkki Melartin

  1. Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 30/1 (1902) 25:50
  2. 1 I. Adagio - Allegro molto moderato ed energico 8:51
  3. 2 II. Adagio 4:39
  4. 3 III. Scherzo (Allegro vivace) 5:12
  5. 4 IV. Finale (Allegro vivace) 6:55
  6. Symphony No. 3. In F major, Op. 40 (1907) 34:54
  7. 5 I. Allegro moderato 8:55
  8. 6 II. Andante 9:06
  9. 7 III. Scherzo (Vivacissimo) 10:09
  10. 8 IV. Largo 6:30

CD 2

Erkki Melartin

  1. Symphony No. 2 (1904) 28:05
  2. 1 I. Andante tranquillo - Allegro - 6:44
  3. 2 II. Andante 8:16
  4. 3 III. Scherzo (Allegro vivace) 5:41
  5. 4 IV. Finale (Vivace) 7:25
  6. Symphony No. 4, Op. 80, "Summer Symphony" (1912) 41:33
  7. 5 I. Allegro moderato 10:26
  8. 6 II. Scherzo (Vivace) 5:56
  9. 7 III. Andante 14:40
  10. 8 IV. Rondo-Finale 10:18

CD 3

Erkki Melartin

  1. Symphony No. 5, Op. 90, "Sinfonia Brevis" (1916) 32:46
  2. 1 I. Moderato 12:23
  3. 2 II. Andante 7:20
  4. 3 III. Intermezzo (Allegro moderato) 6:01
  5. 4 IV. Finale 7:00
  6. Symphony No. 6, Op. 100 (1925) 35:11
  7. 5 I. Andante 13:36
  8. 6 II. Andante 5:28
  9. 7 III. Allegro 5:43
  10. 8 IV. Finale 10:16

About this recording

This triple CD contains the six symponies by Erkki Melartin, performed by the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Leonid Grin. Soprano Pia Freund, mezzo-soprano Lilli Paasikivi and contralto Laura Nykänen are featured in the Andante to the popular Fourth Symphony ("Summer Symphony").

Erkki Melartin, whose birthdate and year of death coincide exactly with those of Maurice Ravel, regarded the symphony as holding the central place in his oeuvre. He composed his six symphonies more or less in parallel with Sibelius, although the works rather bear the stamp of Gustav Mahler - as a conductor, Melartin lead the first performances of Mahler's music in the Nordic countries. Melartin was also influenced by impressionism and expressionism.

Features

3 CDs; booklet with liner notes in English and Finnish

The artists

Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra

The Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra, comprising 97 musicians, is one of Scandinavia's leading symphony orchestras. In autumn 2013, young Finnish conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali succeeded Hannu Lintu as new Chief Conductor and continued in his post until 2023.

Full biography

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