Songs to Swedish Texts
Sheet Music

SKU: NX.TOCC0416

By Hedvig Paulig, Ilmo Ranta, and Jan Soderblom. By Carl Jonas Almqvist, Erkki Melartin, Gustaf Froding, Harriet Lowenhjelm, Jarl Hemmer, Johan Ludvig Runeberg, Karl August Tavaststjerna, Levertin Oscar, Ragnar Ekelund, Sir Rabindranath Tagore, Verner von Heidenstam, and Vilhelm Ekelund. Classical. CD. Toccata Classics #TOCC0416. Published by Toccata Classics (NX.TOCC0416).

The Finnish composer Erkki Melartin (1875-1937) wrote around 250 art-songs, often grouping settings of different languages and different dates into unrelated and sometimes untitled opus numbers. But what might be a nightmare for the musicologist is a treasure trove for the enthusiast for Nordic song, as this recital of some of the best of Melartin's Swedish settings will prove, with music that often sounds rather like Sibelius tinged with French Impressionism. The Finnish lyric soprano Hedvig Paulig graduated with a DipRAM from the Royal Academy of Music in London and later completed her MMus at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. She won the first prize at the international Sibelius Song Competition in 2011. Ilmo Ranta studied at the Sibelius Academy with Liisa Pohjola and received his diploma in 1984. Currently he holds the position of lecturer in piano and chamber music in the Sibelius Academy. Jan Soderblom has been the first concert-master of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra since 2015; he is also active as a conductor.