Search - Melartin, Grin, Tampere Philharmonic :: Symphony No. 5 Opus 90

Never quite what you expect, but great stuff

06/21/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Somehow makes sense that someone who, like Sibelius and Mahler, was also a student of Robert Fuchs (in whom I have an undisguised interest), would write music showing signs of Sibelius and Mahler. (Except that neither Sibelius nor Mahler did. Or Fuchs' other students. Oh well. ;) ) A too-simple and not quite accurate description of Melartin's sinfonia brevis- symphony no. 5 in a minor- might say just that: that it combined elements of Sibelius and Mahler. (Come to think of it, in some ways it does.) The first movement is an impressive sonata-form, beginning and ending quietly in a minor and with a lot of incident, beauty, and cleverness. It's really something. The second movement is an idyll of melody, with a quiet modal refrain, interrupted by birdcalls. The third movement is a folkish intermezzo. The final fugue-with-chorale (slight hint of Mahler 5 finale, in a mild way, here?) uses many elements of the first movement. Great piece.The 6th symphony (recently - June? 1999 - performed live in Sweden, by the way, I'm glad to say) shows Melartin influenced by Debussy and Mahler. (In no case am I implying that he sounds like no more than the sum of his influences and teacher(s)... by no means. Ah, not at all. Just listen.) The work has no key- how could it, with the first movement in C, the second in C#, the third in D, the finale in E-flat? The first movement opens with something right out of Mahler 7 and has many different themes (which will show up throughout the symphony- throw Wagner in as an influence too *g*). The only thing that doesn't work about this movement is that, by the time the fast-tempo sonata-form section is reached, he doesn't give it enough time. Not a failing unique to him.The slow movement is hard to follow, downright weird. Impressionistic, very. Really something.The scherzo is also strange. The finale returns to some kind of normality, maybe a little too normal, maybe not. One can have mixed feelings about this disk sometimes while still feeling- like I do- that I wouldn't be without it. Beautiful, craftily put together, imaginative, I wish I knew more of the composer's music. I'm glad the symphonies are all on CD now (and now the violin concerto, too.) Now for the 4 string quartets!! (I've heard #1, in e minor, at a library. All I know about quartet 2 is that it's in g minor and has been performed on Finnish radio in the last 5 years or so...)- Eric Schissel"