The Kalevala Suite (in Finnish: ), Op. 23, is a five-movement concert suite for orchestra written from 1930 to 1933 by the Finnish composer Uuno Klami and based upon Runos âÂÂ, , and of the Kalevala, Finland's national epic. The original version of the suite, which was in four movements, dissatisfied the composer because its lack of central scherzo made the work seem imbalanced. His first attempt at revision came in 1934 with Lemminkäinen's Island Adventures (; based on ) as Movement III, but its considerable length presented a new problem, causing Klami to withdraw it from the suite and make it an independent work. In 1943, he again revised the Kalevala Suite, adding as the new scherzo.
Klami sought to approach the Kalevala from a perspective that would differ that of Jean Sibelius, his predecessor, whom he thought had "reigned supreme in the domain"; Sibelius's notable Kalevala-themed works include the tone poems The Swan of Tuonela, Pohjola's Daughter, and Tapiola.
The Kalevala Suite is in five movements, of which Nos. IâÂÂII and IVâÂÂV were written completed by 1933; No. III was added in 1943:
Movement II is played attacca.
The Kalevala Suite is scored for the following instruments, organized by family (woodwinds, brass, percussion, and strings):
The sortable table below contains commercially available recordings of the complete Kalevala Suite: The table below lists commercially available recordings: