We live at a time when
we should be very thankful for the vast
wealth of ‘early’ music now available
to us. Barely a generation ago – certainly
two – it would have been unlikely that
a recording of a substantial portion
of the corpus of mediaeval sacred music
from Finland would have been thought
likely to succeed. It is equally unlikely
that anyone would then have assembled
the resources and channelled the energy
into producing and disseminating such.
Here, though, is a
sumptuous and inspiring collection –
representative and selective, rather
than aggressively comprehensive – of
some nearly two dozen pieces ranging
in length from one and a half to four
and three quarter minutes. The Piae
Cantiones ecclesiasticae et scholasticae
veterum episcoporum (‘pious songs
for church and school by the old bishops’)
was published in Turku, Finland, in
1582. It actually comprises music from
a variety of places and times, though
it’s safe to make two assumptions: that
about half the 75 or so songs which
it contains are Finnish… they are not
to be found elsewhere, and are stylistically
consistent. Secondly, we can determine
very quickly not only that the songs
are nearly all considerably older than
the late sixteenth century, but also
that some surely date back as much as
500 years. That many of the titles should
be in Latin in Protestant Finland may
be explained by the fact that the publication
was sponsored by the Catholic sympathiser,
King Johan III of Sweden, at that time
ruler of Finland.
Evidence that the Piae
Cantiones were an attempt
to preserve a perhaps threatened local
tradition of music hitherto transmitted
only (or largely) orally is in the two
republications within a few years -
one in Finnish in 1616, a second again
in Latin nine years after that; and
many more before long. Significantly
the Piae Cantiones have had a
strong influence on contemporary Finnish
music… Sibelius’ Carminalia as
well as modern ‘folk’ song and other
modern arrangements of them, for example.
The majority of these
songs are related to Christmas – hence,
presumably – the preponderance (almost
a third) in the first batch (De Nativitate
tr.s1-8) here. Others concern high
points of the liturgical year (e.g.
Easter – De Passione tr.s9-11),
school life (tr.s15-18) and the woes
of the human condition (tr.s12-14) as
well as the rebirth of nature in spring
(tr.s19-22). It would not be an exaggeration
to suggest that anyone unfamiliar with
Finnish music before the Early Modern
period (or for that matter any era of
that nation’s music) would do best to
buy this CD, which is admittedly a little
under-generous at less than an hour
in length.
The performances are
first class: Zefiro Torna performs on
period instruments (from the 15th
and 16th centuries), including
the kannel (Estonian) or kantele (Finnish),
a zither, or dulcimer. The particular
combinations which we hear throughout
the CD lend the music a definite ‘antique’,
decidedly ‘folk’, aura. This does not
detract from the clarity of the singing,
though, by the four specialists in the
group and by the half dozen young singers
from the Antwerp Cathedral Choir. The
Flemish Zefiro Torna (which was founded
in 1996) draws players who first established
themselves in such venerable ensembles
as the Huelgas Ensemble, Collegium Vocale
Ghent and Capilla Flamenca. The production
and implied advocacy of Finnish music
with such strong nationalist flavours
by Flemish musicians is perhaps unexpected
– but nevertheless to be applauded.
One’s overall impression
is of quiet, self-confident, highly
focused music with the harmonics, temporal
variation and melodic richness of mediaeval
song from other northern European traditions.
The original Carmina Burana may
come to mind. There is a certain sparseness,
tempered by a springy jollity, particularly
in the festive pieces. It’s the kantele
that confers the greatest distinction
on the music. It’s not an overly ‘twangy’
instrument, and serves as an effective
accompanying instrument for the singers.
Other percussive instruments
are not usually overdone. They too compliment
and support the rather delicate tracing
of what is a very tuneful collection
of pieces. Although their use (and the
fade out) in O Scholares discite
does jar just a little and there is
some modern-sounding syncopation in
Sum in aliena provincia. You
may not like the bells in In vernali
tempore; they sound just a little
false, almost intrusive. The slight
breathiness of the recorder and its
ever so marginal over-closeness in recording
contribute in a way to a sense that
this is spontaneous and very genuine
music making; most definitely not purely
demonstrative or reluctantly catalogued
so as to be merely a set of examples.
It’s worth listening to and getting
to know in its own right.
Some of the songs (Personent
hodie and Tempus adest floridum,
for instance) will be recognized immediately.
These incarnations delight for their
tinges of freshness. Although Piae
Cantiones is Finland’s only collection
of its type, it does reflect wider European
traditions; yet Zefiro Torna and the
others have successfully emphasised
the uniquely Finnish properties of the
music… crystalline transparency and
thin tonalities; a clarity of timbre
that is still evident in modern Baltic
unaccompanied choral works; a momentum
which rarely stops for effect, but rather
is created without fuss in the bracingly
brittle blend of melody and words. Although
one senses the scholastic origins of
this combination, the music is never
perfunctory or dry. Rather, its liveliness
is internal and does not rely on excessive
arranging. It really is Sibelius’ pure
spring water again.
The recording is a
good one and the booklet nicely illustrated
with the text to all the songs in Latin/Finnish
and English. Piae Cantiones would
make a slightly different Christmas
present as well as meet nicely the needs
of anyone curious to experience Finnish
music from the 500 year period in question.
Mark Sealey
for details
Zefiro Torna (Cécile Kempenaers
(voice); Els Van Laethem (voice); Timo
Väänän (voice, 
