Credits:

Jarnefelt, Armas (1869-1958)

Description:

Maurits Styrel is a silent film director born in Helsinki. He began his career making short films, and by 1920 he had made 35 films, and is also known for having discovered the famous actress Greta Garbo. In 1919, Styrell produced the film Song of the Scarlet Flower, based on the novel by Finnish author Johannes Rinnankoski, for which he commissioned music by Almas Jarnefelt, who was also a conductor at the time. (His sister is Sibelius' wife, Aino), who was also a conductor at the time. Jarnefelt wrote a nearly 100-minute orchestral score for the silent film, which was not only his last orchestral work, but also a pioneering work as "the first Nordic feature film with original music. The film was a huge hit and was performed in over 40 countries outside of Sweden, but Jarnefelt's score was lost.Fortunately, it was rediscovered in the 1980s in the possession of a relative of Jarnefelt's and restored for this recording by Janni Killeenen and Jáko Kuusisto, allowing us to hear its simple and beautiful music once again. On the album, Jaco Kuusisto himself takes the baton and plays music reminiscent of a world rich in nature. Naxos Japan