Critical acclaim

For Rautavaara completists, this will be an essential buy, containing as it does much that's not available elsewhere. It should find a far wider audience, though. Rich in inspiration, fabulously sung and addictive in the listening, this shows off the composer – just turned 80 – in wonderfully imaginative form. One to return to.

This is the second "complete" anthology of Rautavaara's output for male choir to appear on CD. Amici Cantus conducted by Hannu Norjanen recorded a setin the mid-1990s (Finlandia – nla), but Rautavaara has since composed two further song set (more than 22 minutes of music). Otherwise, only a handful of smaller items, such as the beautiful early Ave Maria (1957) and Legend (1985), are available (from Ondine, coincidentally), so this comprehensive and magnificently sung new collection has the field to itself.

For those familiar with Amici Cantus's original set, this successor is very different. First, YL divide up the works between the main body and their 10-man offshoot, the Talla Vocal Ensemble – the latter, incidentally, are superb in the two TS Eliot Preludes (1956, rev 1967). Second, Ondine's recording is richer, with more presence, matched by singing of greater urgency and vividness. Third, YL and Talla's interpretations have more impetus and power, as in the half-hour-long A Book of Life (1972), which is split between the two groups (as are the Four Serenades, 1978), setting 11 poems – including texts by Rilke, Rimbaud, Goethe, Emily Dickinson and Whitman – in five languages.

The greater textural palette attained through using two differently sized choirs is more akin to that found in some early-music recordings. Perhaps there's a loss of intimacy and a certain dreamy quality compared to Amici Cantus – for instance in the Psalms (1968–71) or some of the folk song arrangements. But this is small price to pay for the gains elsewhere, which for collectors of Rautavaara will chiefly be the quartets of songs to poems by Aleksis Kivi (arr 2005) or from the opera Rasputin (arr 2006), not otherwise issued.