Classical album review: Fredrik Pacius

FREDRIK PACIUS

Hymn To Finland

*****

BIS CD1694, £12.72

Proof of the ability of songs to provide high quality entertainment without us being able to understand a single word of what's going on comes in this CD of songs in Finnish set to music by Fredrik Pacius and performed by the Akademiska Sångföreningen, an all-male singing body founded by Pacius in 1838 from local students.

There's more than just rousing drinking songs in this collection, however: Hamburg-born Pacius found much to inspire him in a country only recently independent from neighbouring Sweden: his output included not only the first Finnish opera, but also three songs, all featured here, that rank among the highest in national consciousness (including one adopted as the national anthem).

The songs are uniformly well performed, with much spirit and some scary accuracy under leader Henrik Wikström.

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