Uuno Klami (1900-61)

Saturday, December 6, 2025

Concert Hall, Helsinki Music Centre, Mannerheimintie 13 A, 00100 Helsinki, Finland

Sibelius’s Spring Song opened this Saturday-afternoon concert (3 p.m. in Helsinki) in the most heartfelt way – both in the music and through this strongly-identified performance, and was corresponded with at the beginning of the second half by Ciel d’hiver (Winter Sky), arranged by the composer from the second movement (the large orchestra reduced somewhat) of Kaija Saariaho’s Orion. In its revised guise, Ciel d’hiver is atmospheric and painterly, chilling yet compelling in its dark hues, with the perceived threat of what might be beyond the skyline.

The new half-hour Clarinet Concerto by Sebastian Fagerlund (written, like his First, for the FRSO’s charismatic principal clarinet Christoffer Sundqvist) has three movements, slow-fast-slow, opening with veiled sonorities, the solo instrument heard as if through mist. The second is a rhythmic, quick-paced tour de force, with much for Sundqvist and the (classical-size) orchestra to do, to compete and sound-off. Finally something distant, enigmatic, the clarinet a quiet voice if becoming louder and more elaborate while remaining contemplative, sounding as if wind through trees, haunting, ultra-refined playing needed from all, before unexpected activity takes the Concerto to a virtuoso conclusion. A happy-looking Fagerlund took a bow.

Of similar length, Uuno Klami’s Kalevala Suite (early-1930s) consists of marvellously inventive and picturesque music superbly scored, thirty minutes of cinematic theatre, contrasted with airily descriptive and poetic expression. True, Sibelius (his lighter side) hovers in the background, as does the Firebird of Stravinsky, perhaps Mussorgsky too, if keenly absorbed and freshly returned to the page, whether fully resourced or delicately water-coloured, deftly written, concluding clangorously, and a joy to discover. There was more, Sibelius’s Finlandia (maybe the regular choice at this point), which spoke so eloquently for this date – “it means so much to us Finns”, the announcer had informed. Nicholas Collon, on his latest such concert, and the FRSO matched the occasion.

Jean Sibelius: Spring Song Op.16
Sebastian Fagerlund: Clarinet Concerto No.2 [Yle commission: world premiere]
Kaija Saariaho: Ciel d’hiver
Uuno Klami: Kalevala Suite