Born in Helsinki in 1928, Einojuhani Rautavaara was one of the most significant figures in 20th-century Finnish music. Although his family was not musically inclined, his schoolteacher mother and civil servant father deeply appreciated arts and culture, and he began studying piano when he was very young. The Finnish Continuation War with the Soviet Union (1941-1944) and the impact of this conflict on Finnish society affected him deeply, ultimately influencing his worldview and creative development. Rautavaara was also intellectually curious and an avid reader, traits that became part of his distinctive blend of 20th-century modernist techniques, elements of Finnish folk music, and profound spiritual and philosophical themes.
Written in 1961, when Rautavaara was in his early 30s, Piano Concerto No. 1 is one of his most famous compositions. As the work unfolds, it has the overall feel of a late Romantic piano concerto, but the central theme consists of a chain of dissonant tone clusters rather than lush tonal harmony. In the introspective second movement, block chords and arpeggios create a captivating world that is grimly resolute and hauntingly fleeting. The brief perpetual motion finale drives the concerto to its whirlwind conclusion.
—©Jennifer More, 2025
