Oskar Merikanto was apparently a very popular composer in Finland during the years around 1900; the booklet notes tell of a Helsinki musician touring the countryside and being asked whether there were any other great composers in Helsinki besides Merikanto. Merikanto made a varied living of the sort undertaken by composers in nascent concert scenes, working as a pianist, church organist, "organ inspector" (whatever that was), conductor, critic, and teacher. He wrote about 150 songs, pleasant, foursquare creations with attractive melodies that have drawn comparisons to Paolo Tosti. They're not quite that far toward the popular end of the spectrum, but they don't sound like Sibelius at all, and they show minimal influence from any composer of German lieder after Schubert. Probably the closest comparison would be Tchaikovsky's songs: imagine the Nocturne, track 21, in Russian, and you can imagine that Merikanto started from some of the same Tchaikovskian sources Sibelius did, even if he went in a different direction. More is generally happening in the accompaniment than in the vocal line, and baritone
Jorma Hynninen and pianist Ilkka Paananen execute the balance here -- simple, sensuous vocal line underlaid by fairly detailed piano part -- very well. The more serious pieces, such as the cycle of four songs From the Graves, Op. 74 (tracks 11-14), are the most successful, but there are also folk-like pieces (try the slight Suvi-illan vieno tuuli [Summer's Evening Breeze], Op. 87/2, track 3) that will stick with you. No one is claiming these songs are lost masterpieces, but singers willing to brave the minefield of Finnish pronunciation should check them out. All texts are in Finnish and English.