Premiered in 1930 but composed a few years earlier, Okon Fuoko stands with the Second and Third Symphonies as one of Leevi Madetoja’s orchestral masterpieces. Billed as a “ballet pantomime”, the Japanese setting calls forth some deliciously exotic music, with plenty of flutes and percussion. It’s very much in the early-20th-century French style (i.e., Ravel and the Ballets russes) that so inspired the composer. The story is a typical one despite the Orientalism: a master puppet-maker attempts to create life, putting his very soul into his latest creation, but fails tragically. In addition to the dances, there are several very attractive songs and choruses, and the entire work plays for about an hour and a quarter. Remarkably, this fine performance–beautifully played, sung, and recorded, with excellent contributions from the orchestra’s winds in particular–constitutes the work’s first complete recording.
Madetoja originally planned three orchestral suites but only completed the very brief first of them. Conductor Arvo Volmer will include a conjectural second suite in his fifth volume of Madetoja’s complete orchestral music on Alba, and it’s easy to understand why this may be the best way to hear the piece in concert. However exquisite the music is (and it really is), the sequence of 35 mostly very short numbers can prove tiring taken all at once. There’s a certain sameness of mood about large stretches of the music that the presentation in tiny bits only exaggerates. A well-planned suite, on the other hand, promises more color and variety, and is unshackled by the sequence of moods demanded by the action on stage. Still, for home listening there’s no reason not to have the complete work, lovely as it is. If you’ve enjoyed this ongoing series, I can recommend this latest release without reservation.
