Content:

Marjatta the Lowly Maiden
Einojuhani Rautavaara
Works for Children's Choir



Artists:
Tapiola Choir
Tapiola Youth Symphony Orchestra
Pasi Hyökki, conductor

Genres:
Choral
Finnish contemporary
Christmas

Features:

Booklet with liner notes in English and Finnish and the sung texts in the original language and in English and Finnish

 Format:
CD

Released:
October 2011 (Finland)
November 2011 (internationally)

Catalogue No.:
ODE 1169-2

EAN/UPC Code:
0761195116920

Track listing

CD 66:28
Einojuhani Rautavaara (1928-2016)
1 Marjatta matala neiti (Marjatta the Lowly Maiden) - A Finnish Mystery Play in One Act (1977) 25:05
2 Puusepän poika (The Carpenter's Son) (1975) 3:32
Suite de Lorca (1973) 6:43
3 I. Canción de jinete 1:35
4 II. El grito 1:59
5 III. La luna asoma 1:55
6 IV. Malaguena 1:14
Lorulei (1973) 2:37
7 I. Mistä on pienet pojat tehty 1:03
8 II. Hus sikä metsään 1:05
9 III. Peukaloputti sian sai 0:29
10 Viatonten valssi (Waltz of the Innocents) (1973/1982) 2:52
Wenn sich die Welt auftut (1996) 10:30
11 I. Freude steigt in uns auf 1:17
12 II. Meine Liebe 1:40
13 III. Dann, in jener Nacht 3:09
14 IV. Der Brief 2:07
15 V. Flüstern 2:17
16 Rakkaus ei koskaan häviä (Charity Never Faileth) (1983) 2:48
Children's Mass (Lapsimessu) for children's choir and string orchestra (1973) 14:26
17 I. Kyrie 1:56
18 II. Meditatio super Kyrie 2:45
19 III. Gloria 1:02
20 IV. Meditatio super Gloriam 1:32
21 V. Agnus Dei 2:41
22 VI. Meditatio super Agnum Dei 2:46
23 VII. Alleluia 1:44



Also recommended...

Press review

All delightfully fresh performances in a satisfying programme.
Hilary Finch, BBC Music Magazine, February 2012

(...) die zumeist aus den siebziger Jahren stammenden Stücke bahnen sich mit ihrer beinahe volksliedartigen, indes nie heimatkundlichen Attitüde einen ganz direkten Weg ins Gemüt. (...) eine aus den Urgründen emporsteigende Einfachheit, ein Schöpfen aus den geheimnisvollen Tiefen hinter der Politur, eine Rückbesinnung auf verschüttete Kräfte der geistigen Natur.
Rasmus van Rijn, Klassik Heute, 19.12.2011


Complete description

This CD features works for children's choir by Einojuhani Rautavaara, mostly written for and here performed by the world-renowned Tapiola Choir under their music director Pasi Hyökki.

These pieces cover a wide range of topics and moods, extending from humorous nursery rhymes to more serious philosophical issues and religious solemnity. The album title piece is the one-act choral opera Marjatta matala neiti ("Marjatta the Lowly Maiden") for soloists, children's choir, and instrumental chamber ensemble, based on a poem from the Kalevala epos. The half-hour "mystery play" tells the story of Marjatta who becomes impregnated after eating a lingonberry and gives birth to a son - thus the Finnish mythological adaptation of the Christian story of Jesus' conception and birth from a virgin.

Finnish cult composer Rautavaara is one of the rare composers to have written extensive and substantial repertoire for children's choir. More generally, his major output for mixed and for male choir has cemented his position as one of today's most popular composers of choral music.