Finnish composer Toivo Kuula (1883-1918) was, by all accounts, a hothead. He died of a gunshot wound, the result of a drunken brawl at the time of Finland’s Civil War. It’s a pity more of that berserk spirit never made it into his music. Although Kuula was acclaimed during his lifetime as a kind of “second Sibelius”, the works here reveal not a trace of the elder composer’s force of character. They are bland exercises in academically correct, German-style romantic nationalism.
The Festive March is just that: noisy and perky, and little else. It appears that the folk music of South Ostrobothnia isn’t all that interesting, at least if these two suites are anything to go by. The First Suite contains a movement promisingly named “Devil’s Dance”, but the result is about as fiery and wicked as Mendelssohn. The later Second Suite is more confident, colorfully scored, and melodically distinctive, although the sequence of movements winds down to a droopy conclusion. The Prelude and Fugue starts promisingly, but as you might have guessed the Fugue is a letdown. It began life as an academic exercise, and so it remains.
Kuula’s music has gotten a bit of attention recently, on Alba and Dutton, and certainly Segerstam and the Turku Philharmonic play the music as well as, or better than, any of the competition. The sonics are also lovely. The music though? It’s “nice” but hard to get excited about.
