I don't think that the Finns have done too badly actually: through the agencies of Ondine and Alba in Finland and Bis in Sweden.
For example, the symphonies of Aho(Bis + Ondine: No.6 still missing), Englund(Ondine: complete), Kokkonen(Bis and Ondine: both complete), Merikanto(Alba: complete), Melartin(Ondine: complete), Rautavaara(Ondine: complete and Naxos), Sallinen(Bis and CPO), Klami(Ondine), Madetoja(Chandos and Alba: complete, Ondine) are all available.
We could still do with a set of the three Pingoud symphonies but, for a relatively small country, that is not at all bad compared with Norway and Sweden-both infinitely richer countries-where a number of distinguished composers have not yet enjoyed such good fortune(I am thinking of Rosenberg, Eklund, von Koch, Fernstrom, Soderlind, Haug etc.).
Don't forget opera: I think most, if not all, of the major Finnish operas have been recorded. Madetoja's two,
The Last Temptations, most if not all of Sallinen's, Merikanto's
Juha, several of Rautavaara's, even the one effort by Sibelius. The pickings for us lovers of Finnish opera are quite strong.
The majority our youth now follow false musical gods like lemmings.
Hey, now >:( Some of us young'uns have taste. ;D
Taste which, at least in my case, was developed primarily from the listening environment at home. That's a huge part of the problem; classical music has no foothold to speak of in popular culture any more. It's the sphere of the rarified and the elite...and that stereotype is being perpetuated by countless television programs and other avenues which mold children's cultural consciousness. Therein lies the problem.
