Leevi Madetoja - Melodia intima (Anna-Liisa Bezrodny; Jan-Erik Gustafsson; Mika Rännäli)

Information

Composer: Leevi Madetoja

CD1

• Piano Trio, Op. 1
• 2 Pieces for Violin & Piano, Op. 3
• Elegia, Op. 4 No. 1 "Suru" (Version for Violin & Piano)
• 5 Pieces for Violin & Piano, Op. 14

CD2

• Northern Ostrobothnian Folk Songs, Op. 18 (Version for Violin & Piano)
• Sonatina for Violin & Piano, Op. 19
• Romances intimes for Violin & Piano, Op. 38
• Lyric Suite for Cello & Piano, Op. 51
• Melodia intima for Violin & Piano

Anna-Liisa Bezrodny, violin

Jan-Erik Gustafsson, cello

Mika Rännäli, piano

Date: 2026

Label: Alba

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The double album Melodia Intima presents the world premiere recording of composer Leevi Madetoja’s entire chamber music output for strings and piano. Compiling approximately 100 minutes of material across two discs, this collection features his seminal Piano Trio, the Lyrical Suite for cello and piano, and numerous rediscovered compositions written for violin and piano. By bringing these long-forgotten works to light for the first time, the release offers a comprehensive historical survey that introduces Madetoja’s elegant, melancholic late-Finnish Romantic chamber legacy to a much wider modern audience.

Finnish composer, conductor, and critic Leevi Madetoja (1887–1947) was a prominent contemporary of Jean Sibelius, under whom he privately studied. Combining Ostrobothnian folk melodies and Finnish melancholy with French symphonic refinement, Madetoja crafted a uniquely introverted idiom. His foundational legacy rests on three acclaimed symphonies and Pohjalaisia, celebrated as Finland's national opera. Although a rumored fourth symphony was lost in 1938, his surviving repertoire includes the ballet-pantomime Okon Fuoko and the piano suite Kuoleman puutarha. Despite a mid-century decline in international visibility, Madetoja’s late-Romantic and early-modern works are currently enjoying a significant modern renaissance through new Nordic recording projects.