Helvi Leiviskä: Orchestral Works Vol. 1
BIS

The name of Finnish-Ukrainian conductor Dalia Stasevska appears as prominently as that of Helvi Leiviskä (1902-82) on the cover of this outstanding recording of material by the Finnish composer. While the argument could be made that it's Leiviskä's that should dominate, it's also true that Orchestral Works, Vol. 1 wouldn't exist without Stasevska, who's done much to bring attention to the music of underrepresented voices. Thanks to the efforts of advocates like her, Leiviskä is being newly discovered and appreciated, and this release should do much to help reestablish her as a Finnish composer deserving of attention.

Her talents were evident at an early age and led to her studying music theory and composition at the Helsinki Conservatory and, after acquiring her diploma, with Arthur Willner in Vienna in 1927. By then, she'd already created a number of credible works, including a piano trio (1925) and piano quartet (1926). After returning to Finland, she worked as a librarian and music custodian at the Sibelius Academy from 1933 to1968 but never stopped composing. In 1937, she created music for the project Juha by filmmaker Nyrki Tapiovaara, plus three symphonies (1947, 1954, 1971) and Sinfonia brevis (1962). In addition to the latter and the second symphony, her Juha music appears on the album as a four-movement orchestral suite.

Holding a day job meant that she could give free rein to her inclinations as a composer, and that freedom enabled her to develop a personal style that's well-documented on the release. While her symphonies adhere to classical convention, musically they're less easy to pin down. In liner notes, Elia Tarasati states that it was with the composer's second symphony that her “characteristic musical language, a kind of abstract polyphony, emerged,” and that she abandoned her earlier sonorous, homophonic style for one that was comparatively more contrapuntal and tonally free. In personalizing her style, she avoided being labeled a modernist or neoclassicist.

For her part, Stasevska studied as a violinist and composer at the Tampere Conservatoire and violin, viola, and conducting at the Sibelius Academy, but it's as a conductor that she's most established herself. In addition to being the chief conductor of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, she also holds the title of principal guest conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and has appeared as a guest conductor with orchestras throughout the world. The multiple award-winner is also a dedicated opera conductor with productions of Don Giovanni, Madama Butterfly, Lucia di Lammermoor, and Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream to her name.

The album begins with Sinfonia brevis, Op. 30, a dramatic, single-movement work completed in 1962 and revised a decade later. After a brooding, Bartók-like intro, the material blossoms into a polyphonic mini-symphony that unfolds linearly with organic logic, purpose, and clarity. Romantic gestures emerge in the sweeping string expressions, but playfulness is present too in the dancing rhythms of the woodwinds and horns. Leiviskä's aforementioned “abstract polyphony” is very much present, as is the material's resistance to easy stylistic capture. The influence of other composers is detectable, Sibelius included, but Sinfonia brevis ultimately establishes itself as its own original and self-contained creation.

The expressive Orchestral Suite No. 2, Op. 11 follows, its score derived from her music for Tapiovaara's Juha. Apparently a classic of Finnish cinema, the film's story-line involves a love triangle between a farmer, his young wife, and her seducer, an itinerant tradesman. Leiviskä fashioned musical themes for the characters, and contrasts in mood and style between the four movements are pronounced. “Kevään tulo (The Coming of Spring)” exudes uplift and affirmation in keeping with the season's arrival, its tone resplendent and subtly pastoral. “Humoreski (Humoresque)” is exuberant and youthful, “Kehtolaulu (Lullaby)” lyrical and solemn, and “Epilogi (Epilogue)” marked by turbulence and tragic foreboding.

The Symphony No. 2, Op. 27 advances through three movements during its almost half-hour duration. Its overall tone is more melancholy than joyful, even if its ever-restless central movement bursts with energy and activity. Harmonically the material is adventurous, as Leiviskä leaves conventional consonance behind for a less restrictive approach. In that regard, Tarasati's suggestion that certain elements of the work are reminiscent of Shostakovich is astute. The opening movement is grounded in a march theme subjected to three treatments, a cheerful rendering first followed by a vigorous one and finally one funeral-styled. Characteristic of Leiviskä's style is the fact that transitions occur so fluidly between each treatment that the separation between the three is less obvious than it would be had another composer shaped the material. Tarasati reports that when it was initially performed, the work wasn't received negatively but “found no more than polite respect and appreciation.” That's not hard to understand when its tone is downcast and even bleak and when its closing movement evokes a dark and desolate landscape.

January 2024