MOVIE MUSIC UK

Original Review by Jonathan Broxton

Stormskerry Maja is a new Finnish drama film directed by Tiina Lymi based on the acclaimed and famous ‘Stormskärs-Maja’ novels written by Anni Blomqvist in the 1960s and early 1970s. The film is set in the 19th century on the remote Åland Islands between Sweden and Finland and stars Amanda Jansson as the titular protagonist Maja. At the age of seventeen she is placed into an arranged marriage with a local fisherman, Janne, and immediately has to adapt to her new life as a fisherman’s wife, coping with her husband’s long absences at sea and taking care of her family alone. However, over time, Maja steadily grows into a strong-willed and independent woman who faces whatever life throws at her with strength and determination; the film follows the various hardships of her life, her triumphs and her tragedies, all against the atmospheric backdrop of this barren cluster of rocky islands in the Baltic Sea.

The score for Stormskerry Maja is by the Finnish composer Lauri Porra, who is the great-grandson of famous Finnish classical composer Jean Sibelius, and is well known in Finland not only for his work scoring film and TV projects, but as a recording artist and classical composer in his own right, and through his high-profile gig as the bass guitarist in the power metal band Stratovarius. This is the first music I have heard from Porra, but I hope it’s not the last, because it’s absolutely outstanding. Usually this is the type of score I would cover as part of my ‘under-the-radar’ series, but the music for Stormskerry Maja is so good that I wanted to highlight it as its own thing.

The score was recorded in Finland with the Sinfonia Lahti under the baton of his wife, conductor Dalia Stasevska, and is a wonderfully evocative and dramatic representation of Maja’s life. There is an unexpected sense of deep romance to much of the score, which comes across as a powerful reflection of Maja’s connection to the land, to the sea, to her family, and to the culture of the islands themselves. I don’t know much about contemporary Åland, and I know even less about its history, but Porra’s music feels like a love letter to the place, to the hardy people who make their lives there, and to its beautifully harsh vistas, windswept and ocean-tossed.

After a low-key opening in “Inner Worlds” which creates an atmospheric mood via some gorgeous, magical textures for harp, woodwinds, and glittering metallic percussion, the score begins in earnest with “Bonfire,” which initially explores a series of moody, haunting, hesitant string textures, but becomes rich and vibrant and expressive as it develops into a quite astonishingly powerful finale. Several cues offer a similar vibe, including the warm writing for piano and strings in “My Life Is Here,” and the highly classical string passages in “Show No Fear” which have an earnest, determined, resolute sound, before becoming quite agitated and wonderfully frisky in the cue’s second half. The forlorn brass accents in “Mikael” give the cue a loneliness and sense of despondency that is palpable, especially when they work in conjunction against the metronomic pacing of the strings, but then later “Firstborn” uses pretty piano textures and like metallic percussion layered against the strings to depict Maja’s delight at becoming a mother. Some of this music reminds me very much of late-career John Barry, especially scores like The Scarlet Letter and Swept from the Sea, which used a similar precise tone and had a hypnotic internal rhythm to create a captivating musical atmosphere.

The three “Cello Interlude” pieces feature standout solo performances by cellist Markus Hohti, including some where he duets with a guitar. These cues offer what is perhaps the bleakest and most despondent reflection of Maja’s life on the Åland Islands, and have a dirge-like quality which is compelling but can be somewhat depressing. Thankfully, Hohti’s contributions to cues like “Building Life” and “We Are Married Now” are imbued with a more optimistic tone, as they appear to recognize the growing warmth that develops over the years between Maja and Janne as their family grows. I especially enjoy the musical construction of “We Are Married Now,” in which Porri juxtaposes a florid and almost celebratory violin theme against Hohti’s undulating cello textures.

However, for me, the standout theme in the score is the light, pretty, at times unexpectedly playful melody that appears in the two cues entitled “Driftwood,” which doesn’t appear to have any melodic connection to the same-named song written by his great-grandfather, but may have been named in honor of him. The first of these is anchored by a tender performance from pianist Antti Kujanpää, and ends with a performance of the same theme for a string quartet. The second of these is probably the highlight cue of the entire score, in which the same theme is arranged for a more fulsome and dramatic full orchestra that builds and becomes more imposing over the course of just over two minutes, before climaxing with a series of tremendously satisfying emotional crescendos backed by a rousing brass countermelody. There is something about this Driftwood theme that is immediately captivating; it’s classical and opulent in all the best ways, but some of the choices Porra makes in terms of the instrumental choices make it sound like a piece of old folk music. It feels like there is history to this theme, that that there are roots, that it has been heard in this place for generations. It’s just superb.

Towards the end of the score the threat of war comes to Åland via a series of naval battles on the Baltic Sea between the forces of the Russian Empire – which ruled Finland at the time – and the combined forces of Great Britain and France. “Imperial Entanglement” is the first cue which addresses this concept musically, a mélange of clattering percussion textures and low, dark orchestral lines that herald this looming threat to the Maja’s peaceful life and the home that she has built for herself and her family. There is a real sense of loneliness to the eerie glassy textures of “Ice,” and to the bitter piano chords of “Perilous Journey,” and it all comes to a head in the intense and dramatic and chaotically dissonant “Drowning”.

Thankfully, “Way Home” resolves the score in a more optimistic and encouraging way with a warm final rendition of the main theme. The final cue, “Myrskyluodon Maija,” is actually not an original piece but is instead a new fully-orchestral arrangement of the theme from the 1975 Finnish TV series Myrskyluodon Maija, which was also based on Anni Blomqvist’s original novels. The theme is by composer Lasse Mårtenson and is apparently a very well-known and beloved classic TV theme in Finland; I had never heard it before this, but it really is tremendous – lush and sweeping, with a gorgeous central melody, and wonderfully bold orchestral arrangements courtesy of Porra and Vili Robert Ollila.

I really can’t recommend Stormskerry Maja highly enough. While some may find its occasionally somewhat depressing tone a tough slog to get through, I personally found that experiencing the darker and more oppressive parts of Maja’s life was necessary in order to appreciate the thematic and emotional highs, especially in standout cues like “Driftwood II”. It’s rich, classical, at times very beautiful, and for me places Lauri Porra on the list alongside the likes of Tuomas Kantelinen, Panu Aaltio, and Pessi Levanto as yet another film composer from Finland whose scores are insta-listens.

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Track Listing:

• Inner Worlds (0:58)
• Bonfire (2:32)
• Driftwood (4:05)
• My Life Is Here (3:23)
• Show No Fear (2:09)
• Mikael (3:26)
• Cello Interlude (1:30)
• Building Life (2:04)
• We Are Married Now (2:28)
• Firstborn (2:41)
• Imperial Entanglement (3:37)
• Cello Interlude II (2:07)
• Engagement (2:44)
• Driftwood II (2:07)
• Ice (1:27)
• Perilous Journey (2:12)
• Drowning (1:25)
• Cello Interlude III (2:02)
• Way Home (1:28)
• Myrskyluodon Maija (written by Lasse Mårtenson, arranged by Lauri Porra and Vili Robert Ollila) (5:56)

Running Time: 50 minutes 21 seconds

Platoon Music (2024)

Music composed by Lauri Porra. Conducted by Dalia Stasevska. Performed by Sinfonia Lahti. Orchestrations by Vili Robert Ollila. Featured musical soloists Antti Kujanpää and Markus Hohti. Recorded by Mikko Raita and Ilkka Ruutu. Mixed and edited by Mikko Raita. Album produced by Lauri Porra.