Uuno Klami

Uuno Klami’s family came from Estonia, but he was orphaned at the age of 16. He showed his musical talent from an early age. Klami studied at the Music Academy in Helsinki and earned some extra money as a café and film pianist. He interrupted his studies to take part in the Finnish Civil War in 1918 and then in the Estonian War of Independence. His first compositions were written after he resumed his studies in Helsinki. In the 1920s he continued his studies in Paris and Wien. His main inspiration was French composers, especially Maurice Ravel, but also Russians like Igor Stravinsky.

From 1930 Klami became increasingly known as a composer. During this period he began to write music based on motifs from the Finnish Kalevala epic. In addition, he worked for several years as a teacher at the People’s Conservatory, but mainly as a music critic for magazines. During the Winter War, Klami joined the medical service. After that, his music took on a more nationally conservative character. In 1949-50 he made another study trip to Paris. Only two years after being appointed a member of the Finnish Academy, Klami died of a heart attack suffered during a boat trip from his summer home on the island of Kujaholmi.

Over time, his music moved away from its romantic beginnings. He was considered a “European composer” on the one hand but also a “national modernist”. His compositions include quotations of folk music as well as elements of jazz. Klami is regarded as a master in the use of the orchestra and, after Jean Sibelius, the most important Finnish composer. His 1952 entry, Pyöräilijä (Cyclists), is a 7-minute long rondo for orchestra, written in 1946. The premiere took place on 1 July 1947. In 1992 it appeared for the first time on CD, recorded by the Lahti Symphony Orchestra.