Nordic Highlights No. 2 2024

Highlights at Finnish festivals

Lotta Wennäkoski is the profile composer at the 2024 Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival alongside  Sebastian Fagerlund. The programmes will include many works by her, including the premiere of Sic for two violins. Mikko Heiniö’s  Concerto for Kantele, Violin and Strings will be performed at the festival by the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra,  Antti Tikkanen (vl) and  Eija Kankaanranta (kantele), who is the soloist in  Juhani Nuorvala’s Concerto for Kantele and Tape.

The Katrina Kammarmusik festival in the island province of Åland has likewise chosen Wennäkoski as its house composer. One of the works will have its first performance. There will be music by Pehr Henrik Nordgren as well.

Kalevi Aho is the composer­in­residence at the 2024 Kumaus chamber music festival with premieres of two of his works. He can also be sighted and heard at many of the festival events in Lappeenranta (see: Premieres).

Iiro Rantala’s Sanatorio Express in Frankfurt

The Frankfurt Chamber Opera is staging the German premiere of  Sanatorio Express (Pikaparantola) by the internationally renowned Finnish composer and jazz pianist Iiro Rantala on 13–31 July. The libretto, by  Minna Lindgren, has been translated into German. The opera (premiered by the Finnish National Opera in 2018) transports the audience to a bizarre sanatorium where a healing charlatan conducts his business with a motley crew of patients. Full of humour and highly accessible music, this opera lovingly follows the classical opera buffa. Rantala’s latest opera, The Magic Melodica – a highly acclaimed sequel to Mozart’s Magic Flute – was premiered at the Komische Oper Berlin in 2021.

Choral works by Tormis in Estonia

Mats Larsson Gothe

Mats Larsson Gothe has been awarded the Rosenberg Prize by the Swedish Society of Composers “for his technically consummate and deeply moving works that stand as a monument over musical innovation and expressivity”. The prize will be handed out in connection with the premiere of his Symphony No. 4, performed by the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Marta Gardolinska, during the Baltic Sea Festival in Stockholm on 31 August.

Conducted by Santtu­Matias Rouvali, Larsson Gothe’s Submarea will receive its UK premiere by the Philharmonia Orchestra on 3 November at the Royal Festival Hall in London, accompanied by Joakim Odelberg’s underwater films from the Nordic coasts.

Editors: Henna Salmela, Kristina Fryklöf

Translations: Susan Sinisalo, Jaakko Mäntyjärvi, Robert Carroll

Cover Photos: Olli Kortekangas (Maarit Kytöharju), Emmy Lindström (Andreas Sander), Matthew Peterson (Johan Bergmark)

Design: Tenhelp Oy Click

Some choral works by Veljo Tormis can be heard on 15 June at two big events in Estonia. Items from the cycle Forgotten Peoples will be performed in Tartu by the Chœur de l’Orchestre de Paris, which previously programmed Tormis’s works in Paris in March 2023. There is also video and lighting design in the concert, which is part of both the Tartu 2024 Finno­Ugric  Days and the main programme for European Capital of Culture Tartu.

The Estonian Union of Male Choirs celebrates its 35th anniversary on 15 June as well, featuring songs by Tormis in a large concert at Rakvere Linnamägi, a contemporary open­air stage adjacent to Rakvere’s medieval castle.

Photo: Act/Gregor Hohenberg

Photo: Tonu Tormis

Photo: Romain Etienne

Photo: Maarit Kytöharju

Iiro Rantala

Veljo Tormis

Kalevi Aho

Lotta Wennäkoski

Mats Larsson Gothe

Photo: Gehrmans

Cecilia Damström news

Cecilia Damström’s accordion concerto Permafrost was selected as one of the recommended works for broadcasting and concert presentation at the 70th International Rostrum of Composers in Vilnius in May. Her orchestral work Extinctions is nominated for the Nordic Council Music Prize 2024; the winner will be announced in October in Reykjavik, Iceland. Pekka Kuusisto and Tampere Raw will premiere Damström’s Earth Songs, a concerto for violin and chamber ensemble, on 18 September. The seven­movement work (Ozone, Sea, Sun, Earth, Wind, Forest, Life) will be performed together with video projections by Marek Pluciennik.

Celebration tour with Anders Paulsson

In connection with South Africa’s celebration of 30 years as a democracy, composer and soprano saxophonist Anders Paulsson will embark on a European tour with the South African MIAGI Youth Symphony Orchestra in August, with concerts at Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and Konzerthaus Berlin. Paulsson’s Celebration Suite , which he wrote when South Africa celebrated 20 years of democracy, will be performed during the tour.

Erkki Melartin anniversary

Next year will witness the 150th anniversary of the birth of Erkki Melartin (7.2.1875 –14.2.1937) – one of the most prolific Finnish composers of all times. His extensive oeuvre includes six symphonies, symphonic poems, a violin concerto, stage music, chamber music for various combinations of instruments and hundreds of piano pieces and songs.

The anniversary will be celebrated in various concerts, exhibitions, programmes and talks. An extensive listing is available on the Erkki Melartin Society home page. The latest publications by Fennica Gehrman are the  Per speculum in enigmatae for piano,  Symphony No. 3 (study score) and  Three pieces for brass quintet – a set of transcriptions by Kari Karjalainen based on Melartin’s piano works.

Staern’s Flute Concerto

Focus on Lara Poe

Lara Poe’s music is rapidly gaining ground. Her  Laulut maaseudulta (Songs from the Countryside)  for voice and orchestra is to be premiered on 25 August at the 2024 London Proms by the orchestras of the Sibelius Academy and the Royal College of Music (see: Premieres). After the Proms, the work will travel to the Helsinki Festival for a concert on 1 September.

The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra will focus on Poe in the 2024/25 season with performances of her Kaamos , Onerva Songs and a new commission to be premiered on 12 February 2025.

Lara Poe is one of two theme composers at the Korsholm Music Festival, where several of her solo and chamber works will be performed in July. She will also have a solo piano piece premiered at the Presteigne Festival in Wales, on 23 August.

Benjamin Staern is the artistic partner with the Västerås Sinfonietta. In February his trumpet concertino Surprise was performed by soloist John Axelsson, and 17 October will see the world premiere of his flute concerto Älvalek (Dancing Fairies), inspired by a painting by the Swedish artist August Malmström. The soloist is a previous winner of the Soloist Prize, Laura Michelin. The concerto was commissioned jointly by the Västerås Sinfonietta, Dalasinfoniettan and the Uppsala Chamber Orchestra.

Gehrmans at chor.com

On 26–29 September 2024, the German and international choir world will meet in Hannover for chor.com, one of the most important events in the European choral world. Gehrmans will showcase the latest publications of Swedish choral music and participate in reading sessions of Swedish repertoire with Professors Lone Larsen and Anders Eby. Larsen’s groundbreaking ensemble VoNo will push the boundaries of Swedish choral music in their performances, and the German version of Rolf Martinsson’s muchloved Lukas-Passion will be performed in concert by the Musikhochschule Hannover and presented in a seminar with the school’s Professor, Andreas Felber. Hope to see you in Hannover!

Photo: Penthouse Studios

Lara Poe

Cecilia Damström

Photo: Ville Juurikkala

Anders Paulsson

Laura Michelin

Photo text:

Photo: Nadja Sjöström

Olli Kortekangas and the power of the human voice

Olli Kortekangas (b. 1955) is one of Finland’s leading composers. His powerful, dramatic music often features the human voice and is text-driven as well as narratively oriented.

In recent years, Kortekangas has written several chamber operas, lasting about one hour each. These represent a merger of chamber music and Lied and feature one or two characters. The topics in these operas delve deep, touching on traumas and sore spots.

Oma vika (Own Fault, 2015) for baritone and small ensemble (clarinet, violin, cello and piano) was commissioned by baritone Sauli Tiilikainen and is about a father coming to terms with his daughter’s suicide. For Tiilikainen, this came from personal experience, and in fact the libretto by Michael Baran is mainly based on Tiilikainen’s diary entries. “It is highly exceptional for a singer to wish to perform something based on such a painful personal experience. That brought a rare personal dimension and a unique depth to the performance,” Kortekangas explains. He takes difficult topics as a welcome challenge: “Art should focus on talking about heavy topics.”

Exploring ethical choices

In 2021, Kortekangas completed a church opera titled Ende und Beginn (End and Beginning) for baritone, dancer and four musicians (organ, clarinet, cello and piano). The idea came from bass Nicholas Söderlund, who had acquainted himself with the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German priest whose thinking was unconventional for his time. Kortekangas was keen to work on this, as he had already touched on the relationship between Bonhoeffer and his fiancée Maria von Wedemeyer in his opera Marian rakkaus (Maria’s Love) performed at the Savonlinna Opera Festival in 2000.

Bonhoeffer is one of the most important theologians of the 20th century. He is particularly remembered for taking part in a conspiracy to overthrow Hitler, after which he was imprisoned. During the two years that he spent in prison before being executed, he wrote an enormous volume of notes, poems and letters. The libretto for Kortekangas’s church opera is in German and

draws on Bonhoeffer’s Widerstand und Ergebung. Briefe und Aufzeichnungen aus der Haft (Letters and Papers from Prison).

In this opera, Kortekangas explores the ethical choices of an individual: to combat a greater evil, one must accept a lesser evil and live with the resulting pangs of conscience and take respon­

sibility for one’s actions. A Bonhoeffer quote that is a favourite of Kortekangas is: “When a human consciously takes upon himself the burden of guilt, he and he alone is responsible for it. He will inevitably be harshly judged in the eyes of other humans, he himself will be liberated through his conscience, but in the face of God he can only hope for mercy.”

Photo: Maarit Kytöharju

Because this is a church opera, including the organ seemed only natural. The work incorporates three organ Toccatas that may be performed separately as a set. The role of the dancer reflects Bonhoeffer’s thoughts and feelings. Ende und Beginn will next be performed at the Birgitta Festival in Tallinn in August 2024.

The third heavy topic tackled by Kortekangas is dementia. His monologue opera Koria täti (Fancy Aunt, 2021) for soprano, clarinet, percussion and piano was premiered in 2021. In the libretto by Tommi Kinnunen, an old lady suffering from dementia and shut up in her room contemplates her life. “It’s a sad and tragic but empathetic story,” says Kortekangas. “It’s also a jarring perspective on a time only a few decades ago when someone could simply be locked up and put away with no regard for their rights.”

Premieres in 2024

Kortekangas’s premieres in 2024 include the chamber music work Piir (Border) premiered in Estonia in May. Setting texts in Estonian for reciter, singer, flute and guitar, it explores the theme of borders. “A border can be a blessing or a curse,” notes Kortekangas. “It’s a cliché to say that we should tear down all borders. Some borders are necessary because they define who we are.”

“Of course, my music isn’t meant to repeat what the text already says. It has a narrative level all its own.”

Each of the above three monologue operas has only a small instrument ensemble, but if anything, they pack an even more intense punch than something with a larger orchestra.

Songs of Meena

The human voice has been a hugely meaningful resource for Kortekangas throughout his career. Many of his choral works have become lasting favourites. The orchestral song cycle Songs of Meena, premiered in 2022, was written in collaboration with soprano Tuuli Takala to showcase her expansive vocal and expressive range.

The cycle consists of six songs setting poems by Meena Alexander (1951–2018) selected in cooperation with the poet herself. “Meena lived in the USA but had roots in India. Her poetry reflects a European­style cosmopolitan thinking and a broad­based education in visual arts and literature,” says Kortekangas. “Meena also wrote about her childhood, her formative years. There is a special kind of warmth in these texts.” He goes on to stress: “Of course, my music isn’t meant to repeat what the text already says. It has a narrative level all its own.” Songs of Meena was commissioned by the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, and the premiere was conducted by Osmo Vänskä, who had previously commissioned Kortekangas to write for the Minnesota Orchestra.

The work has eight movements, three of which contain text written by Elo Viiding for this purpose. A border can, of course, also be a metaphorical one. “Piir is at once chamber music, Lied and melodrama, all of them but also none of them. The text is read, recited and sung,” Kortekangas explains. The work was premiered in Valga, a town on the border between Estonia and Latvia, and performed on the next day in Narva. Next year, Piir will be performed on the border between Italy and Slovenia.

Kortekangas’s most recent opera is Isfåglarna (Halcyons), setting a libretto in Swedish by Johan Bargum and scheduled to be premiered in autumn 2024 in Kokkola, followed by a guest performance in Helsinki. The characters in the opera are drawn from Classical mythology. “Although there is a lot of humour in this piece, ultimately it is about the power of love and the possibility of forgiveness. Even Zeus can feel remorse,” says Kortekangas.

The next major event is the premiere of the Guitar Concerto commissioned by the Saimaa Sinfonietta in Mikkeli on 6 November, followed by a performance in Lappeenranta the next day. The soloist is Janne Malinen.

In recent years, Kortekangas has developed an interest in church music. He has returned to his earlier pursuit of choral singing and has participated for instance in performances of passions. “I’ve begun to deal with matters of faith in my music, and my relationship with the most profound issues of human existence is less problematic now than it was when I was young. I’ve realised that life is a process of continuous learning, both mentally and professionally.”

Pekka Hako

PREMIERES

June–September 2024

KIMMO HAKOLA

Piano Sonata No. 3

Laura Mikkola

15.6. Iitti, Finland (Iitti Music Festival)

JYRKI LINJAMA

De profundis

Ursula Langmayr, sopr, Jan Lehtola, org 27.6. Espoo, Finland (Organ Night and Aria Festival)

IIRO RANTALA

Sanatorio Express (Pikaparantola)

Frankfurt Chamber Opera 4.7. Frankfurt, Germany (German version)

LOTTA WENNÄKOSKI

Sic

Minna Pensola & Antti Tikkanen, vl 24.7. Kuhmo, Finland (Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival)

Mellan natt och regn

Petri Kumela, gtr, Zilliacus Quartet 8.8. Finström, Åland (Katrina Kammarmusik Festival)

CECILIA DAMSTRÖM

Unda for piano solo

Niklas Pokki, pf 31.7. Mänttä, Finland (Mänttä Music Festival)

KALEVI AHO

Kumaus

Janne Valkeajoki, acc, Helka Seppälä, cb, Lauri Pekkarinen, perc

Ruija

Aapo Järvinen, fl, Annika Valkeajoki, vlc 17.8. Lappeenranta, Finland (Kumaus Festival)

Kantele Concerto

Mikkeli City Orchestra/Erkki Lasonpalo, sol. Laura Linkola 28.8. Mikkeli, Finland

LARA POE

Koivunrungot Kaarella

Joseph Tong, pf 23.8. Presteigne, UK (Presteigne Festival)

Laulut maaseudulta

(Songs from the Countryside)

Sibelius Academy SO, Royal College of Music Orchestra/ Sakari Oramo, sol. Anu Komsi, sopr 25.8. London, UK (Proms Festival)

MATS LARSSON GOTHE

Symphony No. 4

Swedish Radio SO/Marta Gardolinska 31.8. Stockholm, Sweden (Baltic Sea Festival)

MATTHEW PETERSON

Vagabond

Dalasinfoniettan/Claire Levacher 6.9. Falun, Sweden

CECILIA DAMSTRÖM

Earth Songs

Tampere Raw, sol. Pekka Kuusisto, vl 12.9. Tampere, Finland

ALBERT SCHNELZER

Oboe Sonata

Francois Leleux, ob, Emmanuel Strosser, pf 24.9. Heidelberg, Germany

Five questions for Emmy Lindström & Matthew Peterson

Get

to know composers

Emmy Lindström and Matthew Peterson, with whom we are now expanding our collaboration.

What is the sound of Emmy Lindström?

My music is emotional and relatively tonal with a predilection for lovely harmonies. But I am a postmodernist in the sense that I don’t get caught up in structures. I want to entice the listener to enter into a space of her/his own. I have a lifelong relationship with Wilhelm Stenhammar as a soul mate and a mentor, and this is something I think has been considered old­fashioned. But I see a trend now that several musical stylistic tendencies can exist side by side, just as with people – you can look like however you want and love whoever you want.

What are you working on just now?

Rösaring, a concerto for the Swedish RSO that is set to premiere in spring 2025. Rösaring is a cult center from the Viking Age located in the municipality where I live. The ancient processional road leads up towards a fantastic view over Lake Mälaren, with large burial mounds and a stone labyrinth. During winter solstice you will find that the Milky Way Galaxy is exactly parallel to the road! It is a powerful place that fires your imagination.

What do you have in the pipeline?

I get a great many requests now – a luxury problem for a composer. I am the profile composer of the Rusk Festival in Finland this November. I also intend to write a violin concerto for Malin Broman, which will be so much fun as I am a violinist myself. After that there will be a trumpet concerto in two versions – one for the Swedish Wind Ensemble and one for the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra – and a string quintet commissioned by the Swedish Radio P2: Song from the Caves. Just as with Rösaring, this latter work also has an archeological theme, but in this case it’s about caves in France with inscriptions and paintings that are no less than 30,000 years old.

Which three works do you want to highlight?

The Lost Clown – a mirror work to Schoenberg’s ‘Pierrot lunaire’, which I wrote as composer­in­residence with the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra 2018/19. I like the blend of free ­tonal and tonal sections in the work, and the humorous nods to the original text. This is really me!

The clarinet concerto At the Hills of Hampstead Heath from 2017 was my breakthrough as an orchestral composer. It captures the melancholic wisdom and strength that pervades this mythical London park and heath that has captivated me forever. And it is frequently performed.

Song about Em (2006) for clarinet and string orchestra/string quartet is an early work in my career. When I was younger, I was inspired very much by the film composers Björn Isfält and Stefan Nilsson, and in this work it is clearly manifest. With a background as a theatre musician, I dream of writing music for film and theatre, where I believe I would really be able to express myself fully.

You are pursuing double professional careers. How does this affect you as a composer?

As a nurse, including psychiatric care, I encounter people in their most fragile states, fostering a humility towards life. This perspective forces me to think beyond myself and focus on alleviating others’ suffering. It becomes both a rest and an energy injection. After intense nursing work, I can often go straight to composing – the music just flows. My two professions enrich each other in an exciting way. While I long to deepen my nursing skills, my current focus is on music. Economically, knowing I can secure a permanent nursing job anytime gives me security and freedom as a composer.

What is the sound of Matthew Peterson?

On the one hand there’s an extroverted side, raw with pounding rhythms and colorful and muscular scorings – like life’s big beating heart. This is contrasted with an introverted, intimate side. In that way, it reflects my personality. I am an opera composer, a vocal composer, so even in my instrumental music there’s a storytelling aspect. I want to go all the way – to compose bravely, and I think my music has an expressive clarity.

What are you working on right now?

I am putting the finishing touches on two pieces. Vagabond is an overture for Dalasinfoniettan to open next season 24/25. It’s a wild journey that both punches you in the mouth and caresses you. As I was writing it, I realized it was about myself and my musical journey. The second piece is a tenor saxophone solo for Theo Hillborg called Creatures Wild and Lonely, to be premiered in July. It unleashes Theo’s musicianship and creative personality. His way of singing and calling out through his instrument made me think of big lonely animals in vast landscapes.

What do you have in the pipeline?

I will be composer­in­residence with Dalasinfoniettan for the next two years, which is meaningful in many ways. We are all part of the musical family here in the province Dalarna, and the artistic collaboration goes beyond composing as I am involved in the overall programming and

Krista Audere

Photo: Johan Bergmark

Emmy Lindström

Matthew Peterson

Photo: Anderas Sander

planning. Among the highlights from eight or nine different concerts with them are a performance and recording of my Högalidsmässan and the world premiere of a large­scale work commissioned for Dalasinfoniettan and the Swedish Radio Choir. Apart from that, there are discussions with several opera houses about my opera Voir Dire. I’ve been commissioned for a dance score, a percussion concerto, another piece for the Radio Choir and a new opera… a very busy couple years are coming hard at me.

Which three works do you want to highlight?

An Inner Sky (2022): an a cappella setting of three E. E. Cummings poems, which recently received the Swedish Music Publishers Award. It was premiered by the Swedish Radio Choir and has been performed by many great choirs. The final setting, brIght, is one of my best works. An Inner Sky was commissioned for the inaugural Sven­David Sandström Choral Composition Award, in honor of my late teacher. I feel that I composed a really impactful and beautiful work where I was both myself and very new.

And all the trees of the field will clap their hands (2013) for chamber orchestra, the piece that put me on the map when I won the Uppsala Composition Award. A shimmering and dancing work, inspired by a verse from Isaiah about natural cycles.

Voir Dire (2010): a true crime chamber opera that brought me to Sweden on a Fulbright grant and took seven years to get on stage. It’s my seminal early work, based on and adapted from the librettist’s experiences as a court reporter in Wisconsin.

How does your rural life affect and form your life as a composer?

I grew up in North Dakota hunting, fishing and spending a lot of time outdoors and have chosen a similar life for my family, only in Dalarna, Sweden. Before that I was six years in Stockholm, the only city I’ve ever lived in. I do miss singing in great chamber choirs there and being able to go to concerts more often. But cities ultimately exhaust my senses. I like visiting them for the intense social experience of a premiere performance, participating in a festival, or preparing an opera with the cast. In everyday life, I want to follow slower rhythms: the seasons, the weather, the living world’s cycles of birth, death and renewal. As for how this affects me as a composer, I do deal with these subjects, but perhaps more importantly it keeps me grounded in myself, and focused on my art.

Janna Vettergren

REPERTOIRE TIPS

ANTTI AUVINEN

Boundrary Bourrée (2024) Dur: 9’ vlc-cb-cl-elgtr-pf-perc & video

An incisive, powerful musical reflection on boundaries in public debate on society and politics. The title Bourrée also alludes to the rhythmic structure, which was originally associated with a dance but gradually transferred to music not intended for dancing. Boundaries shift in both music and politics (See: Reviews).

CECILIA DAMSTRÖM

Helene – Nuances from the Life of Helene Schjerfbeck (2020) Dur: 21’ fl-ob-cl-bsn-pf (prepared) (players sing and whistle)

The quintet depicts the life of the artist Helene Schjerfbeck through four of her paintings. Her sojourns in Paris and London are reflected in the first movement, ‘Dancing Shoes’. In ‘Drying Laundry’ everyday household chores are vividly illustrated with, among other things, a scrubbing-brush, bubbling water and slapstick. ‘Self-Portraits’ is a slow passacaglia consisting of twelve chords with slightly different textures and nuances each time they are repeated. The final movement ‘The Convalescent’ strives upwards toward the light in whole-tone scales and is concluded with a high whistling.

MIKKO HEINIÖ

Mot natten (Towards Night) (2018)

Dur: 12’ cello and guitar

Three nocturnes and two interludes inspired by the poetry of Bo Carpelan. The piece makes varied use of different guitar techniques to produce chamber music both colourful and striking. The first nocturne, dominated by pizzicatos, is followed by a dynamic interlude. The second is coloured by delicate micro-interval chords, and the third, Battito (‘beat’), is marked with the heartbeat of strong guitar pizzicatos.

OLLI KOSKELIN

7 Haiku (2019) Dur: 15’ flute and guitar

Tranquil rhythms and pauses create delicate soundscapes. The haiku is performed seven times: it is improvised, read out loud and played from the notes. In true Koskelin fashion, the music forms a subtle, meditative entity in which text and music are one. The texts are included in English and Finnish.

DANIEL NELSON

Touch Wood (2023) Dur: 9’ wind quintet

A high-octane, rhythmical and swinging piece, full of energy. The title is a play on words and can mean that the musicians need a little help from above when playing this challenging work, or perhaps just literally that they are touching wood.

JUHANI NUORVALA

Sonata for violin and keyboard (2020) Dur: 24’

New chamber works

MATTHEW PETERSON

Winning Isn’t Everything It’s the Only Thing (2023) Dur: 12’ horn trio (hn, vln, pf)

This piece is inspired by quotes from famous sports figures about winning: I: Use it or lose it, II. I never lost…I just ran out of time, III. Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing. The quotes, and to a certain extent the character of their sources, hint at the feel and thrust of each movement: the kinetic self-assuredness of the first, the disappointed poignancy of the second, the violent confrontation of the third. Composed for the Ben Goldscheider Trio.

ESA PIETILÄ

The Wind Wants (2022) Dur: 16’ fl-ob-cl-hn-bsn

The idea of this work for wind quintet is to examine wind in all its variety: “A balmy summer breeze suddenly gives way to an autumn gale that blows with all its might, whips round corners, forms flurries and howls in the treetops,” says the composer. There are also some improvisational episodes.

KARIN REHNQVIST

Musik i natten (Night Chant) (2020) Dur: 11’ afl-bcl-vibr-pf-vln-vla-vlc

Night Chant was written during the isolated existence of the pandemic, and it depicts how our senses open up when night falls. Sounds are experienced more strongly, light is sharper. The sonority is warm and dark, the nuances are never really forceful. But soon also the light seeps in, in a mild and simple hymn, and light meets darkness.

ALBERT SCHNELZER

Aksak & Ciphers (2023) Dur: 15’ string quartet or string sextet

Microtonalists rate this four-movement piece very highly and it has also received rave reviews from audiences. The tuning system is 22 equal divisions of the octave (22edo). The piece begins by tuning the violin and after an improvisatory solo, keyboard chords appear under a soaring tune. The second movement travels on an ever-spiralling path toward a powerful climax. It is possible to play the third and fourth movements as a shorter work (Waltz and Toccata).

A three-movements work inspired by folk music from the Balkans, but also by the compositional techniques of Brahms. The opening movement ‘Râcenica’ is a lively and energetic dance in 7/16 time, while the second movement’s ‘Lamento’ is a slow, melancholy song in 5/4 time. The work is concluded by a playful and dancing Scherzo in 5/8 time, with unexpected changes in both rhythm and harmony. Schnelzer also plays with musical name ciphers. In the music we find, among others, Brahms, Clara (Schumann) and the names of Schnelzer’s family members.

BENJAMIN STAERN

Hilma Scenes (2020) Dur: 20’ fl-cl-perc-pf-vln-vlc

This is an instrumental suite from the opera Hilma, which revolves around the life of the pictorial artist Hilma af Klint. The first scene is a lament for Hilma’s mother, the second a musical interpretation of her iconic painting ‘Altarpiece’. The third scene depicts a ’Seance’ with elements of fire and incense, and the fourth Hilma’s vision of two imminent world wars. The concluding fifth scene ‘Epilogue’ is a farewell to life.

LOTTA WENNÄKOSKI

Päärme (Hem) (2015) Dur: 10’ piano trio

This delightful piece arouses images of sewing and handicrafts. Its pulsative rhythm reflects the idea of steady but erratically colourful stitching. The hemming in this trio is cheerfully brisk, and as in sewing, the result is not always intended to be over-neat, predictable or regular.

REVIEWS

Marvellous and moving

This is about the darker sides of love, but nevertheless Sandström makes it sound bright, as usual. During this 50-minute-long meditation Landgren’s red-gleaming trombone often becomes a more sorrowful contemplative prolongation of the words. His singular vocal part, in turn, appears as a touching expression of mankind’s voice and failings in relation to the ethereal choral sonorities in Sandström’s marvellous and moving work. Dagens Nyheter 16.3.

Thrilling Turriago concerto

The composer transported the audience on a journey of enchanting Latino rhythms – the soloist shone and conversed with his instrument. Turriago’s Trumpet Concerto is a major new orchestral work…The deafening applause was well earned as the concerto in all its richness swept into this world. Aamulehti 7.4.

This elegant, taut concerto abounds in beautiful detail, motifs that carry it along in an interesting way and some unexpected moments. The performance by Flores, Vásquez and the Tampere Philharmonic was both airtight and rich, full of energy. Kulttuuritoimitus.fi 6.4.

Tuomas Turriago: Trumpet Concerto World premiere: Tampere PO/Christian Vásquez, sol. Pacho Flores, 5.4.2024 Tampere, Finland

Rickard Söderberg & Jonas Valfridsson

Sven-David Sandström: Sonnets of Darkness and Love

Swedish Radio Choir/Kaspars Putnins, sol. Nils Landgren, voc. and tbn, 15.3.2024 Stockholm, Sweden

Valfridsson’s awesome premiere

Jonas Valfridsson’s four movements capture in a very elegant way the mood of each season – a sort of lingering melancholy in the autumn movement, bright, budding hope in the spring movement, etc. It is music that is intricate without being for a moment inaccessible, and it is filled with strong emotions. Rickard Söderberg has the whole gamut of expression in his throat and in his presence on stage. This premiere is awesome. Jönköpingsposten 27.5.

Jonas Valfridsson: Árit

World premiere: Jönköping Sinfonietta/Anna-Maria Helsing, sol. Rickard Söderberg, ten, 26.5.2024 Jönköping, Sweden

Great beauty in The Promise

By depicting moods in a way that is recognizable for everyone, Gothe solves the communication challenge with elegance. This is most obvious in all the beautiful moments of the work, especially in the choral sections… Gothe has a fantastic command of the orchestration. It is deeply fascinating to follow how he sets up nuances of sonorities – to show the orchestra when it is most colourful, but not least to carry the drama… The libretto is poetic and allows scope for the music to come to a stop and be dreamy. And thus Gothe can write something as classical as arias. Musikkmagasinet 22.3.

Mats Larsson Gothe: Löftet (The Promise)

Royal Swedish Opera Orchestra and Chorus/Tobias Ringborg, sol. Hanna Husáhr, Jens Persson Hertzman, Agnes Auer etc, 23.02.2024 Stockholm, Sweden

Impressive Aho double concerto

Aho’s fantastic command of orchestration and his ability to write clear, beautiful solo material were once again demonstrated. Contrasting with the soloists’ delicate touch were the frantic frolics of the brass and a vast battery of percussions. Crowning it all were the ethereal flickers of the flutes and the hushed, tinkling bells. Kaleva 26.4.

Kalevi Aho: Concerto for Violin, Cello and Orchestra World premiere: Oulu SO/Jessica Cottis, sol. Christel Lee, vl, Jonathan Roozeman, vlc, 25.4.2024 Oulu, Finland

Photo: Gehrmans

Hanna Husáhr as Ava in The Promise

Nils Landgren & The Swedish Radio Choir

Photo: Arne Hyckenberg

Photo: Nea Ilmevalta

Christel Lee & Jonathan Roozeman

Photo: Tuomas Tenkanen

Tuomas Turriago

Photo: Sören Vilks (The Royal Swedish Opera)

Spectacular and utterly original

Whittall has recently succeeded in creating an aesthetic territory all of his own that, in its effortless stylistic synthesis, is utterly original. …The orchestration, extremely effective and at times spectacular, suggests Ravel meets Richard Strauss, and the result is an extremely refined landscape. The organ part makes exhaustive use of the full potential of the Helsinki Music Centre organ, complete with quarter-tone steps and lighting changes of register. Hufvudstadsbladet 23.5.

Matthew Whittall: Joy for organ and orchestra

World premiere: Finnish RSO/Nicholas Collon, sol. Susanne Kujala, 22.5. 2024 Helsinki, Finland

Reif, Tobias

&

Stimulating and intensive Broström

The first movement’s shrill trumpet, rapid rhythms and ample figurations make it swing in all colours… The second movement begins with a whirl. A rock pulse drives it on, lifts the trumpet solo and a refreshing dance melody with lovely lines. The last movement shimmers with iridescent, atmospheric sonorities… This was a bewildering, zestful and stimulating experience, full of presence and intensity, and a power of attraction that makes me want to hear it again, right away… Or why not a whole evening devoted to Tobias Broström’s music. That would have been a real pleasure. Gefle Dagblad 13.4.

Tobias Broström: Garden of Earthly Delights World premiere: Gävle SO/Christian Reif, 12.4.2024 Gävle, Sweden

Wennäkoski CD warmly recommended

Flounce is short, brilliant and somewhat tongue-incheek Scherzo, full of drive and instrumental imagination…. a splendid display of catching, and at times subtle, orchestral textures. …As far as I am concerned, Wennäkoski is brilliantly successful. One can but hope that other harpists will find her Harp Concerto (Sigla) well worth the effort. It is a splendid work by any count…Here is a composer with imagination and a strong ability to move, captivate and impress. MusicWeb International 22.3.

Lotta Wennäkoski: Flounce, Sigla, Sedecim CD: Finnish RSO/Nicholas Collon, sol. Sivan Magen, hp (Ondine 1420-2)

In every sense brilliant

The Crash gig opened with the Irish premiere of Antti Auvinen’s Boundary Bourrée for ensemble. This was an intense, tense work of sharp, dry textures. It was roughly divided into three, concise attacca movements and was in every sense brilliant. Journal of Music 1.5.

Antti Auvinen: Boundary Bourrée

Irish premiere: Crash Ensemble, 27.4.2024 Dublin, Ireland

NEW CD’s

KALEVI AHO

Guitar Concerto, Bach/Aho: Contrapunctus XIV, Quintet for Horn and String Quartet

Lapland CO/John Storgårds, sol. Ismo Eskelinen, gtr, Ilkka Puputti, hn BIS 2666

OLLI KOSKELIN

Chamber and solo works

(then when A-go, Animal II, Courbures, Tintinnio II, X’three, 7 Haiku, Exalté)

Otto Tolonen, gtr, Gleb Kanasevich, cl, Tuomas Mali, pf, Mikael Helasvuo, fl, Timo-Veikko Valve, vlc Alba-ABCD 476 (‘Presentness’)

TOMMI KÄRKKÄINEN

Cello Concerto (& cello works by other composers)

La Tempesta/Jackie Shin, sol. Seeli Toivio Refrain Records RRCD-006 (‘Öinen näky’)

MATS LARSSON GOTHE

Submarea

Gothenburg SO/Christian Karlsen Nilento NILCD 2401 (‘Nordic A Fragile Hope’)

KIRMO LINTINEN

Cello Concerto English Chamber Orchestra/Emilia Hoving, sol. Trey Lee Signum Classics SIGCD791 (’ Seasons interrupted’)

ALLAN PETTERSSON

Complete works

Norrköping SO, Nordic CO, Swedish RSO/Christian Lindberg, Leif Segerstam, sol. Jörgen Pettersson, asax, Ulf Wallin, vln, Ellen Nisbeth, vla, Peter Mattei, bar, etc BIS 9062 (’Complete Edition’)

MATTHEW WHITTALL

Solace (& piano works by other composers) Risto-Matti Marin Refrain Records RRCD-005 (‘Solace’)

Christian

Broström

Björn Warwas

Antti Auvinen

Photo: Eija Tervo

Matthew Whittall

Photo: Maarit Kytöharju