Complete Solo Songs, Volume Two

Toivo Kuula is one of many Romantic and Late Romantic composers who died tragically at a young age - in his case at the age of 34: He was shot by a bullet fired after a scuffle during a victory celebration at the end of the Finnish Civil War. The directness of the music he composed during his short life illustrates the immensity of the loss, not only for Finnish culture, but for music in general - as this second and final album, which presents his complete oeuvre of songs for solo voice and piano, makes clear. The range of moods captured here is impressive; the most passionate of these songs create an opera-like intensity in their short time span, in a style that brings directness of expression and rich Late Romantic harmonies into harmony with one another.