Tuomas Kantelinen (1969-): Ballet "The Snow Queen" from Ondine

[LateRomantic75]

Wait! Before any gasps are uttered, let me assure you that Kantelinen's richly romantic music is well within UC's remit. Here's what Records International says about the ballet:

Anyone who collects large-scale, huge-orchestra, vividly orchestrated, film-music-ish ballet scores will be absolutely delighted by this full-length (70 min.) ballet which was part of the 90th anniversary season of Finnish National Ballet in 2012. Kantelinen is a highly successful film composer, so that explains a lot. But he plainly loves Tchaikovsky and the Russian romantic school too (see the sequence of national dances in the center of the work: Swedish, Spanish, Russian and, to modernize things a bit, Persian and Japanese!). Wide dynamic range and pretty wide spacial recording too - just try the "Market Square" and "Final Battle" tracks (you may need to warn your neighbors).

If that doesn't sound attractive, I don't know what does! It's not exactly a new release, but it certainly deserves mention here.

http://ondine.net/?lid=en&cid=2.2&oid=5086

[Alan Howe]

Fair enough, but I wonder what his more 'serious' music is like? (To cite another composer, John Williams' film music stands in the great romantic tradition, but his serious stuff is quite different.) And judging by some of Kantelinen's other scores, he may be no more than the Finnish equivalent of, say, Howard Shore. Try, for example, this stylistic hotch-potch (clearly not consistently richly romantic at all):
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mongol-Tuomas-Kantelinen/dp/B002MANHA6/ref=sr_1_cc_2_digr?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1388955376&sr=1-2-catcorr

[TerraEpon]

http://www.classicalarchives.com/work/1044070.html

Very generous samples on this site. Sound pretty film music-like (which I love, granted), but certainly not quite romantic enough for this forum.

[Alan Howe]

I'm not at all convinced of Kantelinen's overall suitability here, I'm afraid. Some of his music fits (love The Snow Queen!), some definitely doesn't, so unless I can be shown more evidence, I'll be locking the thread.

[britishcomposer]

Judging from his Piano Concerto I would say that at his most advanced Kantelinen is approaching Rautavaara in style though without the latter's feel for structure and economy of material which at times results in a to my mind rather unpleasant monumentalism. His romanticism is definitely of a postmodern kind.

[Alan Howe]

OK, thanks. The Snow Queen's a definite find, so let's restrict this thread to that particular piece.

[LateRomantic75]

Thanks for unlocking this thread, Alan! I was about to send you a PM arguing in Kantelinen's defense, but I won't have to now

[Alan Howe]

I'm still tempted. Kantelinen's music in general is clearly well beyond UC's remit, but I'll keep this thread open provided we stick to the one work.
In this connection, I should remind everyone that our guidelines state the following:
<<Please do not post about composers or compositions which clearly fall outside our definition of "romantic". Your post will not be approved. If you are in any doubt, and in any event if the music was written after 1918, please email or PM a moderator before posting.>>
So, rather than posting willy-nilly, a prior PM concerning the suitability of this type of composer and his music would help us greatly.

[eschiss1]

... I misread that, I did. That guy's _my_ age, give or take a few months. Oh.