Petri Sakari - Stravinsky: Soldier's Tale Suite, Octet / Janacek: Capriccio (1997)

What's it sound like when Finns play Stravinsky and Janácek? Smooth, cool, hard, round, hot, and very, very funky. Or at least that's how Stravinsky and Janácek sound when performed by the RSO Chamber Ensemble (Finland) under the direction of Petri Sakari. For the most part Finns born, bred, and trained, the players of the RSOCE (Finland) are superbly trained virtuosos who nevertheless relish the opportunity to get down and dirty. In Stravinsky's demotic tale of the diabolic L'Histoire du soldat, all the players are brilliant, but cornetist Jouko Harjanne and trombonist Teppo Alestaio are particularly sultry. In Stravinsky's classically jocular Octet, all the players are terrific but the twin bassoon attack of Jussi Säkkä and Erkki Suomalainen are especially effective. In Janácek's eccentric and eclectic Capriccio for piano left hand and winds, all the players are down in the grove with the rhythm, but the left hand of pianist Juhani Lagerspetz is all over the piano. While conductor Petri Sakari does an admirable job of leading the RSOCE, he is more of a Billy May than a Count Basie, more of a bandleader than a band maker. That's all right: Sakari has already turned in dozens of excellent recordings of Nordic orchestral repertoire, including an outstanding cycle of Sibelius' symphonies on Naxos. As captured in Alba's crisp, clear sound, this disc may not be everyone's first choice in the repertoire, but for anyone who wants to know what it sounds like when Finns get funky, this disc is the answer.