Helvi Leiviskä (1902-1992) was born in Helsinki into an intellectual, but not exactly musical family. Her father, a clergyman, apparently disapproved of her chosen career, but her uncle, Juhani Siljo, was one of Finland’s best-known poets before his tragic death at the age of 30 fighting in Finland’s Civil War. Studying composition at the Helsinki Conservatory under Erkki Melartin and Leevi Madetoja, she won a scholarship to Vienna in 1927 where she imbibed a Central European musical outlook from Arthur Willner. Intriguingly she was a lifelong Rosicrucian, though it seems not to have had a direct impact on her music (some claim, however, to be able to hear “the symbolism of the ancient goddesses,” in her music, whatever that might mean).

The sleeve note here tells us that unlike other women composers of the time, Leiviskä didn’t find herself eking out an obscure life on the margins. However, she earned her principle living as a librarian and music custodian at the Sibelius Academy and had to apply several times before she was awarded an artist’s pension. This disc proves she was a major talent and given that Hänssler...