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| Cd cover photo: Sirkka Sari (village teacher Ilona Ahlgren) and Tauno Palo (Aarne Niskavuori, master of the Niskavuori farm) in Niskavuoren naiset (The Women of Niskavuori, FI 1938, PC: Suomi-Filmi, D: Valentin Vaala, based on the play by Hella Wuolijoki), composer: Harry Bergström. |
Suomalainen elokuvamusiikki, Vol. 9 + Vol. 10: Suomi-Filmin elokuvamusiikkia 1933–1961 [Finnish Film Music Vol. 9 + Vol. 10: Film Music from the Suomi-Filmi Company 1933–1961] (2 cd).
Complete track list beyond the jump break.
Sources: Suomen äänitearkisto ry ; Musiikkiarkisto, KAVI.
Curated, sleeve notes by Juha Seitajärvi signed 5 June 2021. Restored by: Timo Wuori. Discography: Rainer Strömmer.
AMCD 1056. Artie Music Oy, Turku, Finland, 2021.
The Suomalainen elokuvamusiikki cd series has grown into the most important publication of Finnish film music ever.
The first volume was published in 2010 and the latest ones, Vol. 9 and Vol. 10, this summer. They are among the weightiest in the series.
Sources include vintage shellac phonograph records, archival kantanauha tapes from the Finnish Broadcasting Corporation and actual soundtracks of the movies. Many songs are familiar, all takes rarities, many never published before.
I had planned to listen track by track, but ended up listening back to back. There are never before heard rarities starting from the first track ("Kaupunki illoin" / "City at Night" foxtrot from the lost Valentin Vaala / Teuvo Tulio cat burglar movie Sininen varjo / The Blue Shadow).
Cd Vol 9 is dedicated to Valentin Vaala, who had a profound musical sense even in his silents. His favourite director was Ernst Lubitsch, and The Blue Shadow has significant affinities with Trouble in Paradise, which was not released in Finland, but I entertain a hypothesis that Vaala, Tulio and Mika Waltari might have seen it at an industry viewing at the Paramount Finland screening room. Vaala never directed a musical, but many of his films emerged in the spirit of the musical comedy.
Major discoveries on the Valentin Vaala disc include Harry Bergström's love serenade from Niskavuoren naiset / The Women of Niskavuori and Einar Englund's compositions from Omena putoaa / When the Apple Falls. Vaala's penultimate film was a hit parade called Nuoruus vauhdissa / Swinging Youth, hopelessly out of touch, but with excellent singers such as Vieno Kekkonen ("Savukuva" / "Vision in Smoke") and Laila Kinnunen ("Andalusian neidot" / "The Girls of Andalusia").
Cd Vol 10 starts with tracks from the first real Finnish film musical, Meidän poikamme merellä / Our Sons at Sea, songs composed and performed by Georg Malmstén. These songs were included already in Cd Vol 1 in this series, but these are different takes, equally engrossing. The traditional folk song "Palapan Kille" has original lyrics that were not seen fit to print until the 1970s in Isojen poikien laulukirja / Adult Songbook, but based on it, a mainstream entertainment film was made, the lumberjack romance Kanavan laidalla, and the woman scorned became a woman worthy of love. In an arrangement by Ahti Sonninen, Kirsti Hurme, as Palapan Kille, plays it as her own theme song in an earthy intepretation with moments of atavistic resonance. For a moment, I am reminded of Fréhel and Ma Rainey.
Cd Vol 10 ends with an orchestral suite of 22 minutes from Pikku Pietarin piha composed and conducted by Simon Parmet (born Simon Pergament, 1897–1969), who was, among other things, a conductor of the Radio Symphony Orchestra and co-founder of the Jewish Song Society of Helsinki. In 1940 he composed for Bertolt Brecht the first score for Mutter Courage, and the years 1941–1948 he spent in American exile. His brother Moses Pergament moved to Sweden, became the music critic of Svenska Dagbladet and composed for instance Den judiska sången / The Jewish Song.
The suite from Pikku Pietarin piha is a treasure of Finnish film music.
BEYOND THE JUMP BREAK: THE TRACK LISTING:
