This is the third, and by some way the best, issue from BIS of music by the Estonian, Lepo Sumera. Like its predecessors, the main work here is a symphony (Nos. 1-3 appeared on the first disc, 12/94; No. 4 on the second, 9/95), in this case his Fifth (1995), cast in one movement lasting over half-an-hour. It is a much more impressive symphonic edifice than any of its predecessors, which avoided the true synthesizing character that seems to me the essence of the form. The Fifth, though, is more integrated, if still sectional in construction; a work, unlike the Fourth, more than the sum of its parts, not less. Whether the higher degree of thematic fusion was the result of the single span or vice versa, the music has in places a sweep that reminded me of Rautavaara's Fifth (Ondine).

The other pieces are both quite early but no mere makeweights, and show from where Sumera's sound world derived: as D.J. Fanning noted back in 1994, modern Finnish music, Sallinen particularly, and the New Simplicity so prevalent amongst Estonians. Music for Chamber Orchestra (1977) is a delightful score with some beautiful passages for the solo flute. Like the 1972 In memoriam (a tribute to Sumera's former teacher, Heino Eller) and the Third Symphony (1988) there is a jumble of styles - at the root a kind of polystylism-meets-New Simplicity - that is quite invigorating. Paavo Järvi directs three top-notch performances, recorded with the customary skill of the house. With advocacy like this for his best work, the future for Sumera's music - still uneven overall - looks very bright.

(From: Gramophone, May 1997)