A few years ago while visiting one of my second-hand haunts
in Brussels I found a disc of Puumala's chamber music. I found
it most interesting and appealing and was curious to hear more.
Here now are two substantial orchestral works each composed
on a very large scale indeed.
The earliest of them is Chainsprings. It is part of a
large series of orchestral and chamber works incorporating the
name Chains in their titles; I would like to hear others
some day. Chainsprings may bring Lutosławski to
mind; after all he composed three pieces titled Chain.
This may not be purely coincidental since the composer says
that the work is a tribute to the Polish composer and his musical
thinking. The music grows out of fragments and then develops
across longer time-spans. Chainsprings is structurally
fairly complex: it comprises a set of thirteen variations divided
into four Quadros (pictures) and further divided up by
recurring episodes. I drew this bit of information from the
insert notes. After all, this is far from easily perceived by
the average music-lover such as the present writer. Perhaps
close scrutiny of the score would help in appraising the entire
structure but I wonder. The most remarkable feature of this
sizeable work is the wealth of invention displayed from the
opening arresting gesture until its close. It’s a richly
varied, colourfully scored and capricious kaleidoscope. The
music is eclectic and encompasses many different stylistic elements
while eschewing the all-too-easy trap of mere pastiche. Chainsprings
is a formidable orchestral display of brilliant and effective
scoring and a pointer to Puumala's ability to think in epic
paragraphs.
This ability to construct large structures is also the most
evident feature of the piano concerto Seeds of Time.
Commissioned jointly by four orchestras it was written for the
Swedish pianist Roland Pöntinen and Finnish conductors
Hannu Lintu and Susanna Mälkki. Unlike Chainsprings
the concerto falls into three movements although these are not
indexed in this disc. The composer says that the work ties with
different times of the day. The first movement Turba
(crowd) and the second Premura (haste) are daytime music
whereas the final movement Tra le braccia della Notte
(In the Arms of the Night) is in effect a Nocturne. There is
again much to admire in this rather long work; particularly
the many felicitous instrumental and orchestral touches though
I found it a bit too long for its own good. The music tends
to wander at times and the stylistic eclecticism already noted
in Chainsprings worked less satisfactorily. This may
be a matter of personal taste but I find that this substantial
work would have gained from some judicious pruning. That said,
Pöntinen certainly plays superbly throughout this exacting
work and that the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra supports him
wholeheartedly.
The Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra has now become quite a fine
orchestra and their strongly committed reading of Chainsprings
shows them in top form.
In short, this superbly engineered release deserves to be heard.
Puumala's music is well worth the effort and the disc does full
justice to this composer's attractive and often beautiful music.
Do not be put off by my slightly lukewarm appraisal of the Piano
Concerto but Chainsprings is clearly the real gem here
and it would vastly justify the price paid for this disc.
Hubert Culot
See also review by Byzantion
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Roland Pöntinen (piano)a
[64:34] 