VÄINÖ RAITIO (1891-1945): 4 Pieces for Violin and Piano, Op. 18*, HELVI LEIVISKÄ (1902-1982): Piano Trio*, Blue Hepatica for Violin and Piano*, ERKKI MELARTIN (1875-1937): String Trio, Op. 133. * - World Premiere Recordings.

Description: These Finnish chamber works show us three stylistic strands abroad in the 1920s (only the brief Blue Hepatica of 1943 was not composed in the 20s): Leiviskä’s conservative late Romanticism (which would make symphony collectors avid to hear one of the threee she wrote!), Melartin’s National Romanticism (meaning there’s a hard-to-describe “Nordic” feel to it), and Raitio’s Modernist-Expressionism (remember his orchestral Fantasia estatica and Fantasia poetica on Ondine 25 years ago?). Kaaås Trio, Atte Kilpeläinen (viola), Tomas Nuñez-Garcés (cello).