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You can hear at least some of the fragments reconstructed by Timo Virtanen through Youtube as well; type, for example, "Sibelius fragments"; these are the ones that Storgårds played with Helsinki Philharmonia a few years back. Incidentally, saying, as the notes do, that Sibelius was prevented from completing his eighth symphony due to illness looks suspicious to me. He did suffer, as we might now put it, from hand movement disorder, and some people have posthumously diagnosed it as essential tremor. But that hardly sufficed to seal the fate of the symphony. Anyway, this is grossly off topic here. 

As was pointed out by someone in some British newspaper (I don't recall who it was, when, and where) the opening of the James Bond theme by John Barry is exactly like the beginning of Sibelius Cassazione. Well, Sibelius isn't unsung but perhaps his Cassazione, a work seldom performed or even recorded, is. Of course, it's not at all likely that Barry knew this part of Sibelius' oeuvre; so what we have here is most likely a mildly interesting co-incidence, a sort of minuscule mystery of creation.

I wasn't exactly disappointed with the 2nd, but I don't think it really brought any new insight into it, either. Hopefully the new recording is more successful here. Madetoja's symphonies are in any case quite well served by existing recordings by Sakari, Volmer plus the older ones released by Finlandia. So, rather than the symphonies, I'd like to see and hear some of his other works gaining life through recordings. For instance, he wrote a number of cantatas, which probably haven't been performed since they first or in some cases second performances and which, apparently, have substance that gives them significance far beyond the occasions for which they were originally written. Alas, it's not very likely that such hopes will materialize.

The Database of the Finnish Institute of the Recorded Sound, 1901-1999 (http://www.aanitearkisto.fi/firs2/en/index.php) gives 1957 as the year of recording, and I've no reason to doubt this piece of information. I ordered the CD from a local library and am expecting an exciting comparison with Satukangas, Kamu and the Lahti Orchestra. Finnish orchestras in the 50s could sound just about anything, from absolutely horrendous to perfectly decent, but Tapani Valsta was a very respectable pianist (a pupil of I. Hannikainen, in fact), and presumably Finlandia wouldn't have released it if it wasn't at least acceptable. I'm very much looking forward to hearing it.

The recording was released in a CD-format by the sadly no longer existing Finlandia records in 1991 (FACD 811). It's entitled "Recordings 1957-1976" and includes a number of Hannikainen's works performed by Tapani Valsta; in the concerto he's assisted by Helsinki Philharmonia conducted by Tauno Hannikainen (a brother of Ilmari's). Perhaps copies of it can be found through Amazon or other such sources. I haven't checked this out yet.  Another source tells that the concerto was actually recorded in 1955, but I haven't been able to verify the years.

Alba Records might be the company to do a new complete Melartin symphonies; Ondine, I take it, is unlikely to engage in such a project, as they already have their "complete symphonies" on the market, albeit an incomplete one, as it has turned out. Petri Sakari and Turku Philharmonic Orchestra recorded Aarre Merikanto's three symphonies for Alba. THey did wonderful job, and I see no reason why they couldn't excel in Melartin as well; to be sure, Merikanto's idiom is mostly quite unlike Melartin, but Sakari has done reliable Sibelius for Naxos and excellent Madetoja for Chandos, so why not? Segerstam is currently the chief conductor of the Turku orchestra, and would no doubt excel in Melartin as well; the Ondine recording containing Melartin's Violin Concerto, Lyric Suite No. 3 and incidental music for the Sleeping Beauty is utterly charming. I do have one special hope: should there ever be a new take on Melartin's symphonies, this should definitely include the existing material for his 7th symphony as well.

Yes, YLE (The Finnish Broadcasting Corporation) will be broadcasting it live on Thursday, 14th at 1903 local time; after which it will be available for listening in YLE's website for the following 30 days; I don't know whether there are limitations on the availability of YLE's broadcasts abroad.

Hannu Lintu and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra will perform Erkki Melartin's symphonic poem Traumgesicht, op. 70, on Wednesday, 13th, and Thursday, 14th, of November. I don't know if the work has received a single performance since George Schneévoigt and Helsinki Philharmonia played it in the spring of 1932 under the new title "Symphonische Musik". As with Melartin's symphonies, the Melartin Society and Jani Kyllönen have done wonderful job in transcribing the manuscript material and bringing the music, at least potentially, to wider acknowledgement. I'm looking forward to getting to know this piece, which is said to show influence by Strauss, Debussy, Scriabin, and Rimsky-Korsakov, and hopefully leading to a more nuanced picture of Melartin as a composer.

The cover is a painting called "they see what we do not see" by a Finnish artist Otto Mäkilä (1904-1955), but I'm equally at a loss to say what is the connection; apart from the purely external fact that Mäkilä and A. Merikanto were both first-generation "modernists".

Alba records have at last released the first ever recording of Aarre Merikanto's Second Symphony (a disc containing the first and the third came out a few years ago). Subtitled "War symphony" and written 1918, the work signals a transition in Merikanto's career from a talented youngster to maturity; the third movement, largo, is a clear anticipation of the brooding atmosphere of "Juha", on which the composer to set out to work in 1920. But the true glory of the disc must be "Ekho", an orchestral song, a setting of a poem by V. A. Koskenniemi, which Merikanto wrote 1922, immediately after completing Juha. This is Merikanto at his very best, and Alba earns their only minus for omitting to include in this disc yet another work by the composer, "Syyssonetti" (Autumnal sonnet). This is another orchestral song, written the same year and a sort of little sister (or brother) to Ekho; the disc clocks in around 57 minutes and it could have been easily fitted onto it. That said, this is in my opinion easily the most exciting release of Finnish orchestral music for a long time.
http://www.alba.fi/en/shop/products/5022

Ondine has recently released a new recording of Leevi Madetoja's second symphony (op- 35; 1916-18) by John Storgårds and Helsinki Philharmonia; the disc includes two other works by the young composer, Kullervo (op. 15) and Elegy (op. 4/1). I haven't heard the disc yet, but a critic writes quite positively about it, saying that the symphony is given a fuller and more assured performance than the one in Madetoja's complete orchestral works by Arvo Volmer and Oulu Symphony Orchestra (Alba). Hopefully, we'll get the other two symphonies as well.

Mihail Slobodjaniuk will be the soloist, a member of the orchestra.

I should expect a new cycle of Melartin's symphonies by Ondine is not particularly likely, as they've already done it once, albeit in a defective form, as it has turned out. Perhaps Alba could come to rescue; they are now releasing Aarre Merikanto's three symphonies, and there's rather more substance to Melartin's symphonies than Merikanto's (who was an extremely fine composer). Or perhaps BIS and Lahti Symphony could do it; Robert von Bahr has always shown a wealth of interest in Finnish music. Let's hope at the very least that some Finnish Orchestra will pick up the scores and give live performances of Melartin's symphonies. Jani is certainly right in that the 'canon' of past Finnish composers whose works receive live performances is really quite narrow; thanks to the excellent editorial work, there's now no longer an excuse for ignoring Melartin's work, and the question regarding musical substance can only be judged by the ear.

OK, I'll give a bit of back-up for Atterberg's 2nd. First, there are a number of symphonies that would easily outdo A2, but they are by sung, rather than
unsung composers. Second, it's recent discovery, so it's still fresh in my mind. Third, A2 is the finest symphony by a Swede (of those that I've heard);
I've tested Berwald, Alfven, Petterson, etc. but with little effect; so picking up A2 is a friendly gesture to our western neighbours Fourth, I wished to
recommend a well-crafted and genuinely entertaining late-romantic/"national romantic" piece to those who might not be familiar with it.

Kurt Atterberg's 2nd; I'm not absolutely sure that I could not live without it, but I prefer not to.