Finnish composer Taneli Kuusisto (1905-1988) wrote during World War II a symphonic ballad on Lake Ladoga: "Laatokka".
Does anyone knows more about this piece? For the Finnish the lake was very special as it was part of the Karelian region that was annexed to the Soviet Union in 1945.
More importantly: does the music of this composer belong here?
The three short pieces by him available on YouTube indicate that the answer is "yes", but I have no idea how representative they are. All seem to be in what I always think of as the "Scandinavian Rhapsodic" tradition.
Oh, good. Thanks, Mark.
Glad that Kuusisto belongs here. The little I know of his music is that it sounds truly romantic and so maybe a little outdated for the time when it was written.
If his music belonged here but was less good than music that didn't, that would be far less important to me, but that may be why I don't belong here!
Oh, but you do belong here, Eric. You're our no.1 sleuth!
Btw there's more on the composer here:
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=iUQDFlj1ykkC&pg=PA204&lpg=PA204&dq=Taneli+Kuusisto+Laatokka&source=bl&ots=inJnl_Q_ky&sig=vXBwOwkpJKEY3Od4HqT_q86Gy00&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CE4Q6AEwBmoVChMI_rHK8tSKyAIVJDnbCh3wJgk4#v=onepage&q=Taneli%20Kuusisto%20Laatokka&f=false (https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=iUQDFlj1ykkC&pg=PA204&lpg=PA204&dq=Taneli+Kuusisto+Laatokka&source=bl&ots=inJnl_Q_ky&sig=vXBwOwkpJKEY3Od4HqT_q86Gy00&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CE4Q6AEwBmoVChMI_rHK8tSKyAIVJDnbCh3wJgk4#v=onepage&q=Taneli%20Kuusisto%20Laatokka&f=false)
Any relation, I wonder to Jaako Kuusisto, whose violin concerto, although out of this remit, I found quite enjoyable? It says in the (rather badly) translated Wiki entry that he is the GrandFATHER of Taneli (hardly likely. He was born in 1974). His father, Ilkka was also a composer.
Taneli, father, Ilkka, son Jaako & Pekka , grand-sons