01. Missa A Capella - I. Kyrie   
02. Missa A Capella - II. Gloria   
03. Missa A Capella - III. Credo   
04. Missa A Capella - IV. Sanctus   
05. Missa A Capella - V. Benedictus   
06. Missa A Capella - VI. Agnus Dei   
07. Psalm of Invocation   
08. Evening Hymn  
09. Missa Duodecanonica - I. Kyrie   
10. Missa Duodecanonica - II. Sanctus   
11. Missa Duodecanonica - III. Agnus Dei   
12. Ave Maria, Gratia Plena   
13. Canticum Mariae Virginis   
14. Our Joyful'st Feast   
15. Die Erste Elegie   

Latvian Radio Choir
Sigvards Klava – conductor

Contemporary Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara has made vital contributions to choral music, and the Latvian Radio Choir under Sigvards Klava serves his work admirably. In the harmonically rich title piece, he begins with a fascinating and unusually animated Kyrie, with voices pulsating to make a beat. Gentle lyrical melodies give way to a sudden climactic, dissonant tangle of voices out of which sopranos rise ethereally. Clarion lines for sopranos and tenors give due weight to the Gloria. In the Credo and Sanctus, the composer intriguingly juxtaposes towering unison passages with spare solos. The more loosely constructed twelve-tone Missa duodecanonica provides a surprising contrast to the first, neo-Romantic mass. Also worth hearing is "Die erste Elegie," set to words by Rainer Maria Rilke, in which Rautavaara employs evocative text painting, with the choir reaching a glorious summit as they sing of music as the most potent palliative to suffering. Under Klava’s hand, their blend is superb, with plenty of inner voice sound, and final cut-offs are so smooth they sound ironed. ---Ronni Reich, nj.com

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Violin Concerto (1976-77)
1. I. Tranquillo 12’57
2. II. Energico 13’52

Symphony No.8, The Journey (1999)
3. I. Adagio assai – Andante assai 10’34
4. II. Feroce – 2’49
5. III. Tranquillo 5’43
6. IV. Con grandezza – Sciolto – Tempo primo 9’35

Jaakko Kuusisto - violin (#1, 2)
Lahti Symphony Orchestra
Osmo Vänskä - conductor 

One might expect that Einojuhani Rautavaara's Violin Concerto (1976-1977) and his Symphony No. 8, "The Journey" (1999) would present some striking contrasts of style and technique since the two decades separating them saw major shifts from avant-garde thinking to a reassessment of traditional norms. The Violin Concerto, however, is already fairly conservative in outlook, with only a few astringent passages pointing to gestural language and experimental ideas. For the most part, this work is serene, lyrical, and harmonically stable, and violinist Jaakko Kuusisto and the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, directed by Osmo Vänskä, interpret it as neo-Romantic in tone, form, and substance. The Symphony -- free of any nods to the avant-garde -- is readily recognizable as a work in Rautavaara's mature, epic style. The somber tone, slow pacing, and mysterious coloration of this work give it a deeply brooding character; the shorter passages of fast, violent music leave little mark on the Symphony's meditative moods. Written at the turn of the Millennium, one may take Rautavaara's music as an elegiac reflection on the passing of the twentieth century, though no explicit program was provided by the composer. The recording's sound quality is good, though the orchestra often seems veiled and unfocused in its lush moments. ---Blair Sanderson, AllMusic Review

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