Biography
Robert Kajanus emerged as one of the rare Finnish conductors who secured an international reputation during the opening decades of the twentieth century. Through that success he also captured definitive accounts of works by his compatriot Jean Sibelius for later listeners.
He trained at the Helsinki Conservatory before continuing his studies in Leipzig under Hans Richter. Immediately after completing his education he took positions in Dresden, returning to Helsinki in 1882. There he established the Helsinki Philharmonic Society, Finland’s first permanent orchestra, and within a short time raised its playing to a level capable of delivering convincing accounts of the core late-Classical and mid-Romantic repertoire. He remained at the helm of the ensemble for fifty years; among the landmarks of that tenure was the first Finnish performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, presented in 1888.
Before Jean Sibelius appeared, Kajanus stood as Finland’s leading composer. His own scores, rooted in national folk legends, exerted a decisive influence on the younger musician. Sibelius composed the epic Kullervo directly after Kajanus completed his symphonic poem Aino. As conductor, Kajanus further commissioned one of Sibelius’s most enduring orchestral pieces, En Saga, shortly after Kullervo. When the Helsinki orchestra toured Europe in 1900, both men shared the podium, introducing Sibelius’s music to audiences outside Finland for the first time and thereby launching the composer’s international career.
In 1897 Kajanus was named director of music at Helsinki University, a post he held for the next twenty-nine years and during which he shaped musical training throughout the country. He also inaugurated the Nordic Music Festival in 1919.
Because of the close artistic bond between the two men, Kajanus’s readings of Sibelius were long viewed as exceptionally faithful to the composer’s intentions. Although younger conductors such as Sir Thomas Beecham later championed the music, Kajanus continued to be regarded as its authoritative interpreter. In 1930 the Finnish government and Britain’s EMI-Columbia label arranged for recordings of the first two symphonies, choosing Kajanus at Sibelius’s own request. Two years later he committed Symphonies Nos. 3 and 5 to disc, together with several orchestral suites and tone poems. These sessions constituted the most ambitious recording project yet undertaken for any living composer; for decades they remained the benchmark editions and are still considered essential for devoted listeners. Only Kajanus’s death in July 1933, at the age of seventy-six, halted his plan to record the remainder of Sibelius’s orchestral output.
He trained at the Helsinki Conservatory before continuing his studies in Leipzig under Hans Richter. Immediately after completing his education he took positions in Dresden, returning to Helsinki in 1882. There he established the Helsinki Philharmonic Society, Finland’s first permanent orchestra, and within a short time raised its playing to a level capable of delivering convincing accounts of the core late-Classical and mid-Romantic repertoire. He remained at the helm of the ensemble for fifty years; among the landmarks of that tenure was the first Finnish performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, presented in 1888.
Before Jean Sibelius appeared, Kajanus stood as Finland’s leading composer. His own scores, rooted in national folk legends, exerted a decisive influence on the younger musician. Sibelius composed the epic Kullervo directly after Kajanus completed his symphonic poem Aino. As conductor, Kajanus further commissioned one of Sibelius’s most enduring orchestral pieces, En Saga, shortly after Kullervo. When the Helsinki orchestra toured Europe in 1900, both men shared the podium, introducing Sibelius’s music to audiences outside Finland for the first time and thereby launching the composer’s international career.
In 1897 Kajanus was named director of music at Helsinki University, a post he held for the next twenty-nine years and during which he shaped musical training throughout the country. He also inaugurated the Nordic Music Festival in 1919.
Because of the close artistic bond between the two men, Kajanus’s readings of Sibelius were long viewed as exceptionally faithful to the composer’s intentions. Although younger conductors such as Sir Thomas Beecham later championed the music, Kajanus continued to be regarded as its authoritative interpreter. In 1930 the Finnish government and Britain’s EMI-Columbia label arranged for recordings of the first two symphonies, choosing Kajanus at Sibelius’s own request. Two years later he committed Symphonies Nos. 3 and 5 to disc, together with several orchestral suites and tone poems. These sessions constituted the most ambitious recording project yet undertaken for any living composer; for decades they remained the benchmark editions and are still considered essential for devoted listeners. Only Kajanus’s death in July 1933, at the age of seventy-six, halted his plan to record the remainder of Sibelius’s orchestral output.
Albums
