Why did Rauno Keltanen stop recording?

[AldenG]

There don't seem to be many classical music listeners in FF, though I have my suspicions about a few.

Does anybody know what happened with baritone Rauno Keltanen?

Together with accompanist Ralf Gothoni, from whom we certainly still hear, he made some outstanding recordings of Melartin settings of Finnish folk songs. The tape seems to be dated 1985. It looks like some kind of private label (Vorna-LP?) and the only way these tapes have made it out of Finland is by sneakernet. Even so, I've heard them on a few different American big-city classical music stations, apparently donated by listeners who shared my appreciation of them.

I can't understand why these weren't followed by more, nor why Keltanen doesn't appear to be a prominent performer today. (He does appear to be associated with Finland's Opera Chorus.) He seems to have been born in '43, so he should have been performing at least until 2003 or so, well into the CD era. I find references to him as other vocalists' teacher, but I don't know why he quit performing in public so early. It makes me wonder if he pissed off the wrong person in too small a country or something like that. Or maybe there was a health issue that affected his voice, I don't know. And maybe he didn't have enough English and that impeded his international prospects -- again I can only speculate. What a shame, though. There was nothing parochial about the talent on these tapes. He should have had an international career. And maybe he did, but I can't find traces of it on Google.

If someone happens to read this who trolls the divarit for overlooked classical jewels, the album in question is Sinun Silmäs Ja Minun Silmät - Karjalaisia kansanlauluja Käkisalmesta - Folk Songs From Karelia - Kalevalan 150-vuotisjuhlan kunniaksi.

In the case of classical music, I have nothing against the performers who DO make it beyond Finland. But it's sometimes disappointing the ones that don't. Whereas with films too often in recent decades it's been the same two directors flogging atypical Finnish cinema that gets a so-so reception, there's been quite a bit of work by others (with Kassila maybe at the top of the list) that doesn't get beyond maybe other Nordic countries at the most, which could have become favorites on the US art-cinema circuit, just the way Mitt Liv Som Hund did. But something has been missing, I don't know whether it's ambition or ability to understand what plays. Anybody could have warned that Tuntematon sotilas, no matter how important it may have been as Finnish cinema, would flop abroad. Even the expat Finns had trouble sitting for the whole thing, and they were a captive audience, often too ashamed to be seen not showing up. Yet there was a time not many years ago when audiences here were eating up European cinema like Ihmiselon ihanuus ja kurjuus, and even the lighter 1984 Niskavuori, but nobody tried putting them on the art circuit here. I wonder what could have been done with the receipts -- make more movies, I bet. But we'll never know.

[Jukka Aho]

If someone happens to read this who trolls the divarit for overlooked classical jewels, the album in question is Sinun Silmäs Ja Minun Silmät - Karjalaisia kansanlauluja Käkisalmesta - Folk Songs From Karelia - Kalevalan 150-vuotisjuhlan kunniaksi.

Classical music... or traditional folk songs as the subtitle would imply?

Unfortunately, I’ve never heard of Rauno Keltanen... or him singing, for that matter... His songs do not seem to be available on services such as YouTube or Spotify so I guess his solo albums (?) really are something you need to buy in physical format.

Since you brought up Karelian folk songs, the Finnish folk music ensemble Värttinä has recorded many songs based on or influenced by Finnish/Karelian folk songs or poetry. Their latter releases are progressively more modern (they’ve been active since 1983!) but the earlier albums (see their discography in the Wikipedia article) were fairly traditional. You can listen to many of their songs on YouTube.

You may also want to check out Rajaton, even though they don’t really sing folk. They’re on YouTube as well: click, click, click, click. (And as Christmas time is closing up on us again... click, click, click, click)

[Upphew]

It looks like some kind of private label (Vorna-LP?)

Private indeed: Rauno Vorna Matti Keltanen

[sammy]

There don't seem to be many classical music listeners in FF, though I have my suspicions about a few.

Ahem, I think I fall into that category... but I've sort of learnt to try and keep it under my hat - no-one's interested anyway in these spotifying times. Still, had not heard of Keltanen, perhaps because opera and solo vocal music in general -bar a few exceptions- is not really my cup of tea. The staff at Fuga might know about any possible recordings, if they are available etc.

This newspaper article from 2008 says he has retired after a long teaching career at the Joensuu conservatory.

[Jukka Aho]

There don't seem to be many classical music listeners in FF, though I have my suspicions about a few.

Ahem, I think I fall into that category... but I've sort of learnt to try and keep it under my hat - no-one's interested anyway in these spotifying times.

Wrong dichotomy, Spotify has a gigantic amount of classical music in their catalog.

[sammy]

There don't seem to be many classical music listeners in FF, though I have my suspicions about a few.

Ahem, I think I fall into that category... but I've sort of learnt to try and keep it under my hat - no-one's interested anyway in these spotifying times.

Wrong dichotomy, Spotify has a gigantic amount of classical music in their catalog.

That I do believe, but why is it then I've never ever heard/seen anyone say "I listened to Fauré cello sonatas on Spotify"

I feel tempted to be overtly cynical and say that the average attention span of most Spotify-users seems to be approximately 3 minutes... I could be wrong of course, so yes perhaps I should have picked another expression... however, if you ask me, the "issue" with Spotify and their ilk is this: when everything is available all the time, nothing really feels much like anything anymore. Sorry, I'm an old grumpy f*rt sometimes but I can't help sharing Steven Wilson's opinions as expressed below. (He's not talking about classical music but you get the idea...)

Let’s just say that a kid is going to go out and discover Captain Beefheart’s Trout Mask Replica on the Internet today. Now, this was one of my Holy Grails when I was a kid, because I would hear about this album in kind of legendary terms, and it took me months to hunt it down. By the time I found that record—and I actually found it as an expensive American import, and I had to spend a lot of my pocket money to buy it—I had been searching for it for months. And I had such an incredible investment in terms of time, energy and money that even though I hated the record the first time I heard it [Laughs]—and the second time, and the third time, and then the fourth time it began to make some kind of sense—you can bet your bottom dollar I was going to get anything and everything I could out of that record before I gave up on it.

If a kid wants to hear Trout Mask Replica now, he can go on the Internet and he can find it effortlessly, and probably download the whole thing in a few moments. Has he got the same investment of time and energy and money in that record? No, he has none of those things. So that likelihood is if it doesn’t hit the first time—and as a p.s. here I would say most of the records that I love the most I didn’t like the first time—if he doesn’t like it the first time, is he going to persevere with it? Probably not. I’m not saying the Internet is a bad thing; it is progress, and it’s great that people can go and find Trout Mask Replica easily. But at the same time, also, in the back of my mind I’m thinking it’s too easy. It’s too easy now to find music, and it’s therefore too easy to dismiss music, particularly music that doesn’t hit you the first time you hear it.

http://www3.timeoutny.com/newyork/thevo ... pine-tree/

[sammy]

In the case of classical music, I have nothing against the performers who DO make it beyond Finland. But it's sometimes disappointing the ones that don't.

Returning to this question - who knows, but one possible option is that he was not interested in a "big" international career in the first place

[otyikondo]

Let’s just say that a kid is going to go out and discover Captain Beefheart’s Trout Mask Replica on the Internet today. Now, this was one of my Holy Grails when I was a kid, because I would hear about this album in kind of legendary terms, and it took me months to hunt it down. By the time I found that record—and I actually found it as an expensive American import, and I had to spend a lot of my pocket money to buy it—I had been searching for it for months. And I had such an incredible investment in terms of time, energy and money that even though I hated the record the first time I heard it [Laughs]—and the second time, and the third time, and then the fourth time it began to make some kind of sense—you can bet your bottom dollar I was going to get anything and everything I could out of that record before I gave up on it.

http://www3.timeoutny.com/newyork/thevo ... pine-tree/

Right on the button.

Funny to think the Good Captain also made Unconditionally Guaranteed, which is about as approachable an album as you can find anywhere.

P.S. I'd never heard of Keltanen, either, and I see I have Fauré's Pavane on my Spotify list. But then it's only 2:37.

[sammy]

I see I have Fauré's Pavane on my Spotify list. But then it's only 2:37.

Ha, spotifitistic validation for my 3-minute theory And... the original is a bit longer than that.

The Pavane is one of the French master's most known works, even suitable for the World Cup it seems...!

[AldenG]

If someone happens to read this who trolls the divarit for overlooked classical jewels, the album in question is Sinun Silmäs Ja Minun Silmät - Karjalaisia kansanlauluja Käkisalmesta - Folk Songs From Karelia - Kalevalan 150-vuotisjuhlan kunniaksi.

Classical music... or traditional folk songs as the subtitle would imply?

I should probably've clarified that up front. They are traditional folk melodies and words, of course, but the settings and performance style are about as classical as you could possibly get with such source material. If you allow for 100 years' difference in the period, they're quite Schubertesque. I'd call them mainstream art-song examples, but they're actually better (more evocative) than the average art-song, as the genre includes a lot of sausage.

Wikipedia has a good little bio on Erkki Melartin with an outstanding photograph. I hadn't thought before to wonder exactly when he lived, and I guess I thought he was a tad farther back than he actually was. He was actually ten years younger than Sibelius (though he also died younger), 100 years older than Schubert, and has the same birth and death years as Ravel.

[Fixed a typo 2012-02-23]

[AldenG]

There don't seem to be many classical music listeners in FF, though I have my suspicions about a few.

Ahem, I think I fall into that category... but I've sort of learnt to try and keep it under my hat - no-one's interested anyway in these spotifying times.

It's almost impossible to hide these things. I had more than suspicion in your case.

This newspaper article from 2008 says he has retired after a long teaching career at the Joensuu conservatory.

Thanks for that article. It's more than I've come across in the past.

Such a career is certainly a worthy one with an even greater legacy than performance. It's just a disappointment not to have heard more of this voice and talent. He's very well suited to this kind of material, whereas more operatic singers like Talvela often are not.

[sammy]

Such a career is certainly a worthy one with an even greater legacy than performance. It's just a disappointment not to have heard more of this voice and talent. He's very well suited to this kind of material, whereas more operatic singers like Talvela often are not.

Even without ever having heard his (Keltanen) voice, I can agree. Classically trained opera or Lied singers can sound pretty good when doing their "own stuff" so to speak, but 'cross-over' to folk, rock etc rarely works - the prospect of encountering an album called Phatter Matter - Pavarotti sings Nick Drake is almost (if not quite) as obscene & blasphemous as yours truly having a go at the old Königin der Nacht.

[sammy]

the album in question is Sinun Silmäs Ja Minun Silmät - Karjalaisia kansanlauluja Käkisalmesta - Folk Songs From Karelia - Kalevalan 150-vuotisjuhlan kunniaksi.

You might be interested in this database... http://www.aanitearkisto.fi/firs2/en/index.php - apparently he made a number of other similar type of records, too (type "vorna" into the label box and hit search; apparently the "performer" search only works if you put the family name first - "keltanen rauno").

Soi maailma säveleitä - Vorna lp 1
Sinun silmäs ja minun silmät - Vorna lp 2
Anna luoja suo jumala - Vorna lp 3
Hän suuri on ihmeellinen - Vorna lp 4
Mieleni minun tekevi - Vorna lp 5

(vols 3 and 4, and most definitely the latter of these, seem to be religious songs... the title of vol 5 refers to Kalevala, but I'd say the texts are not from it, not all anyway)

Mind you, they're reissuing the strangest old recordings on cd nowadays... especially this label... http://www.rocket-records.com/Julkaisut/ - who knows if these also should crop up in some guise, on some label or another. So it might be worth asking @ Fuga. Or Digelius, they specialise in jazz and folk.

Btw - Vorna is a warrior/hero in the old Karelian folk tales

[tuulen]

There don't seem to be many classical music listeners in FF, though I have my suspicions about a few.

Ahem, I think I fall into that category... but I've sort of learnt to try and keep it under my hat - no-one's interested anyway in these spotifying times...

I enjoy the music of the Classical era, but more of my time is spent on the music of the Baroque era.

Equal Temperament tuning made the Classical era possible, but my ears prefer Just Intonation tuning.

Fortunately, the folk musics of many nations have helped to keep Just Intonation alive.

[sammy]

Equal Temperament tuning made the Classical era possible, but my ears prefer Just Intonation tuning.

Cor, I don't think I really could hear the difference... I mean I can usually hear when an instrument is out of tune in the wrong way (strictly speaking a "well-tampered clavier" is ever so slightly out of tune, but equally out of tune in all keys - isn't that so?)...

But I don't think I'd be able to detect such intricate details. Do you additionally have "perfect pitch" btw? (absoluuttinen sävelkorva)