Nordic highlights 2 2016

NORDIC

HIGHLIGHTS

2/2016

NEWSLETTER FROM GEHRMANS MUSIKFÖRLAG & FENNICA GEHRMAN

Focus on Lintinen & Larsson Gothe

NEWS

The series of Kalevi Aho concerto premieres continues in Antwerp on 21 October 2016 with the performance by the DeFilharmonie of the Double Concerto for English Horn and Harp it has commissioned from him. The soloists will be Anneleen Lenaerts, harp, and Dimitri Mestdag, cor anglais. Aho’s 2nd Violin Concerto will receive its premiere in Kotka on 30 November by the Kymi Sinfonietta. The soloist is Elina Vähälä.

Aho’s Symphony No. 14 ‘Rituals’ will receive five performances in August. It is on the tour programme for the Lappeenranta City Orchestra in Finland and Lithuania on August 10-19 (there will be four performances in all) and the Chamber Orchestra of Lapland will play it at the Luosto Classic Festival on 14 August.

A new music festival dedicated to Kalevi Aho will be launched in Forssa, Finland on July 1-2. It will focus on his chamber music, including piano works performed by Sonja Fräki.

NORDIC

HIGHLIGHTS

2/2016

NEWSLE T TER FROM GEHRMANS MUSIKFÖRLAG & FENNICA GEHRMAN

Sound samples , video clips and other material are available at www.gehrmans.se/highlights Cover photo: : Miranda Tini in African Prophetess at the Larsson Gothe Festival/Jan Olav Wedin, Mats Larsson Gothe/Mats Bäcker, Kirmo Lintinen/Maarit Kytöharju (Music Finland) Editors: Henna Salmela and Kristina Fryklöf Translations: Susan Sinisalo and Robert Carroll Design: Tenhelp Oy/Tenho Järvinen ISSN 2000-2742 (Print), ISSN 2000-2750 (Online) Printed in Sweden by TMG Sthlm, Bromma 2016

HIGHLIGHTS

2/2016

Gehrmans has entered into an extended collaboration with Jacob Mühlrad. The agreement, which initially applied to his choral music, now also includes orchestral and chamber music, as well as his border-crossing cooperation with Swedish Grammy Award winning rap artist Silvana Imam. When Mühlrad receives his master’s degree from the composition programme at the Royal College of Music in June there are already many commissions waiting: a violin concerto, a couple of large-scale choral works and a number of chamber music pieces.

Karlsson and Nieminen

The Lapland Chamber Orchestra conducted by John Storgårds is to premiere Lars Karlsson’s Clarinet Concerto with Christoffer Sundqvist as the soloist in Rovaniemi on 28 September. BIS will be recording the concerto alongside with Karlsson’s Seven Songs for Baritone and Orchestra of poems by Pär Lagerkvist (with soloist Gabriel Suovanen).

Solo works by Kai Nieminen are to be premiered this summer in Finland, the UK and Romania. A concert dedicated solely to his music is to be held in Jyväskylä on 9 August; Erkki Palola and Tuomas Mali will play chamber music. Pilfink Records has released a CD including works by Kai Nieminen performed by Tommi Hyytinen, horn (see: New CDs).

Rautavaara’s Mine in Hungary Einojuhani Rautavaara’s opera The Mine (Kaivos) is in the repertoire of the Hungarian State Opera House in October-November; the first of the four performances is scheduled for 23 October, and there are also plans for bringing the production to Finland.

The conductor is Tibor Bogányi and the soloists include Tommi Hakala, Adrienn Miksch and Sándor Balla. The opera is about the Hungarian uprising in 1956 and is one of the events commemorating this. It tells how a community revolts against dictatorship through the story of workers trapped underground when a mine collapses.

Photo: Ondine Records

Photo: Hans Lindén

Extended agreement

Photo: Saara Vuorjoki

Kalevi Aho in demand

Jacob Mühlrad

Photo: David Karlsson

Albert Schnelzer will be next year´s Weekend Festival Composer at the Stockholm Concert Hall.

Scheduled for 6-9 April, the festival will feature some 15 of his orchestral and chamber works, including the premiere of a new 20-minute orchestral piece dedicated to the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic under the direction of Evan Rogister. Jacob Koranyi will be soloist in the cello concerto Crazy Diamond, and the Gävle Symphony Orchestra will make a guest performance, together with Francois Leleux, in the oboe concerto The Enchanter.

Photo: Beatrice Lundborg

Schnelzer at Weekend Festival

Harri Viitanen highlighted The spring 2016 issue of the French magazine Orgues Nouvelles has highlighted the organ music of Finnish composer-organist Harri Viitanen. There are two works by him – Images d’oiseau and Voyager – on the accompanying CD, and an article by Carolyn Shuster Fournier extols his music for its universal visions and mystique, calling him a spiritual son of Olivier Messiaen. Viitanen has given many performances in France, at such illustrious churches as Notre Dame and La Sainte-Trinité de Paris, where he gave a recital of his own works in May 2015.

Päivi Nikkanen-Kalt and Harri Viitanen in front of the Église de la Sainte-Trinité de Paris.

P R E M I E R E S Summer 2016

Håkan Hardenberger

KIMMO HAKOLA

Photo: Marco Borggreve

Monument

Peter Friis-Johansson and Sven-David Sandström

Photo: Emelie Kroon

Broström’s Sputnik at the Proms

Sandström’s new Piano Concerto In March of 2017 the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra will premiere Sven-David Sandström´s Five Pieces for Piano and Orchestra. The work has been financed by the Anders Wall Foundation and is dedicated to pianist Peter Friis Johansson who says, “the piano concerto is a stroke of genius. The music is very personal, full of brilliant ideas, interesting timbres and vivid themes. This will be an epic journey for me and undoubtedly for the audience as well.”

Englund works published Fennica Gehrman is signing an agreement with the Einar Englund estate for works by him that have not yet been published. It covers 17 items for orchestra, among them The Great Wall of China, Symphonies 3, 5 and 7, concertos, chamber and vocal music. The birth of Englund 100 years ago is being celebrated this year with numerous concerts and performances.

Fennica Gehrman recently published new, clean-copied orchestral material of his Symphony No. 4.

Kimmo Hakola commissions The Gulbenkian Foundation and the European Concert Hall Organisation have commissioned Kimmo Hakola to compose a piece for clarinet and piano for their concert season. The premiere in London on 19 October by Horácio Ferreira, clarinet, and David Bekker, piano will be followed by a further 16 performances across Europe in autumn 2016 and spring 2017.

A new string quartet by Hakola (his fourth) is also forthcoming. Written for the Meta4 Quartet, it will be premiered at the Kimito Island Music Festival in July. Hakola’s first quartet made his breakthrough on winning the Unesco Rostrum competition in 1991.

Håkan Hardenberger will take Tobias Broström´s Sputnik on tour with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields in July and August. There will be performances in Germany and Norway, and the tour will end with a concert at the BBC Proms, for which Broström has also made an arrangement of Brahms´s Hungarian Dance No. 6 for trumpet, banjo, accordion, piano and strings.

Annikka Konttori-Gustafsson, piano 19.5. Helsinki, Finland String Quartet No. 4

Meta4 12.7. Kemiö, Finland (Kimito Island Music Festival)

KAI NIEMINEN

Shades... around Stonehenge Ruins

Marco Ramelli, guitar 15.6. St. Andrews, UK The Smile of Flamboyant Wings

Tuomas Mali, piano 26.6. Campina, Romania Northern Spells

Marko Rutanen, guitar 3.7. Jämsä, Finland

MIKKO HEINIÖ

When the Boys…/ Kun pojat…

Haglund Festival in Halmstad Tommie Haglund will be honoured with a twoday festival in St. Nicolai Church, in his hometown Halmstad on 30 September-1 October. The artistic leader is conductor Joachim Gustafsson, who will present a programme featuring orchestral, choral and chamber music works. Participants include the Göteborg Opera Orchestra, the St. Nicolai Choir, the Merentin Quartet, et al.

You will find the complete programme at: www. gehrmans.se/en/calendar.

Heiniö’s Evening on stage and CD The choral work Ilta (Evening) by Mikko Heiniö can now be heard on the new disc released by the Key Ensemble. Lasting 53 minutes, it is in five movements, each in a different language and joined together by clarinet and cello intermezzos. The critically-acclaimed premiere in September 2015 was a co-production with the ERI Dance Theatre to a choreography by Tiina Lindfors. ERI and the Key Ensemble conducted by Teemu Honkanen are now bringing Evening to Helsinki for the first time; the eagerly-awaited performance will be held in the Almi Hall of the Finnish National Opera on 8 October.

Staern in focus The Båstad Chamber Music Festival’s focus on Benjamin Staern (27 June-2 July) will include the world premiere of Air – Spiral – Light for guitar and small ensemble with Jacob Kellermann as soloist. It will also see the premiere of the piano piece Drop Waves composed for David Huang. Conducted by Daniel Raiskin, the Iceland Symphony Orchestra will play Godai – The Five Elements at the Nordic Music Days in Reykjavik in October. And just before Christmas, Staern´s family opera The Snow Queen (Snödrottningen), based on H.C. Andersen´s fairy tale, will have its premiere at the Malmö Opera.

James D. Hicks, organ 21.6. Turku, Finland Three Morning Songs

Sampo Haapaniemi, baritone, Ville Matvejeff, piano 12.8. Turku, Finland (Turku Music Festival) Jag vill gå mellan rågen

Key Ensemble/Teemu Honkanen 14.8. Turku, Finland (Turku Music Festival)

BENJAMIN STAERN

Drop Waves

David Huang, piano 29.6. Båstad, Sweden (Båstad Chamber Music Festival) Air – Spiral – Light

Camilla Hoitenga, flute, Karin Dornbusch, clarinet, Magdalena Meitzner, percussion, David Huang, piano, Nadia Wijzenbeek, violin, Ylvali Zilliacus, viola, Marie Macleod, cello, cond. Christian Karlsen, sol.

Jacob Kellermann, guitar 1.7. Båstad, Sweden (Båstad Chamber Music Festival)

JACOB MÜHLRAD

Point of No Return for solo cello

Antonio Hallongren 29.6. New York, USA

OLLI KORTEKANGAS

Valon aika (Time of Light)

Juha Kotilainen, baritone, Janne Malinen, guitar 30.6. Heinävesi, Finland

JYRKI LINJAMA

Sonata da chiesa III

Petteri Pitko, harpsichord 15.7. Hiittinen, Finland (Kimito Island Music Festival)

KALEVI AHO

Passacaglia

Marko Ylönen, cello, Timo Korhonen, guitar 13.8. Luosto, Finland (Luosto Classic)

SVEN-DAVID SANDSTRÖM

Föreställningen/The Performance – Chamber Opera

Ensemble from the Royal Swedish Orchestra/Mattias Böhm, Love Derwinger, piano, Jeanette Köhn, soprano, Katija Dragojevic & Miriam Treichl, mezzo-soprano 28.8. Stockholm, Sweden (Baltic Sea Festival)

LARS KARLSSON

Clarinet Concerto

Lapland CO/John Storgårds, sol. Christoffer Sundqvist 28.9. Rovaniemi, Finland

MARIE SAMUELSSON

Eros Effect and Solidarity – Love Trilogy No. 3

Nordic CO/Sarah Ioannides 8.10. Sundsvall, Sweden

HIGHLIGHTS

2/2016

Mats Larsson Gothe – a musical seeker

Photo: Mats Bäcker

Mats Larsson Gothe doesn´t excuse himself any longer. He writes the music that he wants to write and doesn´t hesitate to bring out the beautiful.

M

ats Larsson Gothe is without a doubt one of Sweden´s most highly acclaimed composers just now.

His opera Blanche and Marie, after P.O. Enquist´s novel about Marie Curie and her assistant and friend Blanche Wittman, was a great success at its premiere during the Capital of Culture year in Umeå 2014, and was nominated in the category World Premiere at the International Opera Awards. His extensive output also includes orchestral works, solo concertos, chamber music, as well as songs.

In his opinion, to be a composer is to be continually seeking, a seeking that never ends. As far as Mats Larsson Gothe is concerned, this has meant different artistic directions and different periods with a variety of aesthetic achievements. But he has always returned to his point of departure: himself and his own conscience.

To move the listener Over the last few years it has become ever more important for Mats Larsson Gothe that the music he creates moves the listener on an emotional level. In the spring of 2016 he was given a comprehensive portrait with music for both small and large ensembles during the Composer Weekend at the Stockholm Concert Hall – five concerts in four days. The premiere of the Third Symphony “…de Blanche et Marie… “ attracted great interest, a continuation of his opera Blanche and Marie.

Already during the rehearsals of the opera and when he saw the performances himself, it gradually dawned on him that he should let this music live on in some other form.

– The fact is that this new symphony is based in its entirety on material from Blanche and Marie; at the same time it is important to emphasise that it is a new work. You neither have to have seen nor heard the opera to enter into the vast sound world of the new symphony, he says.

He describes the music as a journey through a changeable musical landscape, where he puts together the parts from Blanche and Marie that he likes best.

– The long lines in the music have come to be essential, he says. For he is keen on keeping the listeners in his grip and not losing them on the way. Nor does he make any abrupt changes or play hide-and–seek with the audience. The only thing that matters is to move the listeners emotionally and, if possible, to say something about what it is like to be human.

Poet & Prophetess Mats Larsson Gothe´s major breakthrough came with the opera Poet & Prophetess (2006-07). This was a commission from the Norrland Opera in collaboration with the Cape Town Opera in South Africa. In the libretto by Michael Williams both Swedish and South African eighteenth-century history are linked up through two historical persons, the Swedish poet Bengt Lidner and the South African prophetess Jula. They never met in real life, but in the opera they meet aboard a ship on the way to Cape Town. She is to be sold as a slave, he has been sent off by his stepfather who hoped that the romantic poet would finally become a real man by the hard drudgery on the ship.

And just as the opera Blanche and Marie lives on in the Third Symphony, Poet & Prophetess has been transformed into The African Prophetess, a concert version of the opera that was premiered at the Norrland Opera on 7 April 2016 and performed at the Stockholm Concert Hall the following evening.

In the summer of 2015 Mats Larsson Gothe celebrated his 50th birthday and he has been working as a composer full time for twenty years. For the Weekend Festival in Stockholm he picked out the works that he felt most satisfied with, but also music that has meant a lot to him personally, such as the Trumpet Concerto (1996), which he wrote during a period when he was more oriented toward modernism than he is today.

Music came to him at an early age from the Free Church. His father was a pastor in the Swedish Missionary Society, where music was important,

and when Mats started to play in the brass band, a new world opened up to him. He even began to listen to music by Shostakovich, Stravinsky, and later during his secondary school years he also found his way to Lutoslawski, Stockhausen, Boulez, et al. – composers who profoundly influenced his music at the beginning of his career.

But the composer who has probably meant the most for Mats Larsson Gothe is Anders Eliasson (1947-2013), who was also one of his best friends.

– As soon as I had finished a piece I went home to him to play it and get his opinion. He could be very frank, but we had great respect for one another, says Mats.

Epilogos for cello and piano (2008-09) bears the subtitle “Hommage à Anders Eliasson”. It was the first piece that Mats had composed after Poet & Prophetess and it was therefore given the title Epilogos, channelling at the same time the fatigue he had experienced after his work on the opera. The music is explosive and pendulates between fervent intensity, dramatic attacks and frenetic energy.

The Phantom Carriage Just now Mats Larsson Gothe is working almost exclusively on one extensive and somewhat different task – to write new music to Victor Sjöström´s classic silent film Körkarlen/The Phantom Carriage from 1920, a commission from the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. The music will have its premiere in February of next year in connection with the Gothenburg Film Festival’s 40th anniversary.

It will be performed live to the film, which will be projected onto a gigantic screen in the Gothenburg Concert Hall.

Mats Larsson Gothe compares this creative process to writing an opera, but without singers. The singers are replaced by the various actors in the cast on the film screen, and he follows them just as painstakingly as if it were a real opera he was working on. The composition of the music is scheduled to be finished by October of this year, and he has already begun to develop various leitmotivs for the different characters in the film.

– It is of course a fantastic film, very powerful.

I have had more fun doing this than anything else I have done up to now, says Mats Larsson Gothe, who has several exciting projects coming up after The Phantom Carriage, symphonic as well as musical-dramatic.

Göran Persson

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TOMMIE HAGLUND Di sogni tessuto (2013) Dur: 18´ organ solo

Tommie Haglund describes this work as a journey between various states of mind, where the main destination is consolation. The music goes from the tranquil and meditative to really big, dark and roaring emotional outbursts. But Haglund also lets the light shine through in the form of immensely beautiful melody lines that instil a glimmer of hope.

PAAVO HEININEN Aiolos (2014) Dur: 80´ Concerto for Organ and Symphonic Band: 3373-433(+bar)1

Heininen’s monumental Aiolos, rich in fantasy, is in nine movements each with its own distinct sound and character. Orchestra and organ weave together as one huge, throbbing wind instrument to produce a fascinating mystery and drama: 1½ hours just fly past listening to this miracle.

MIKKO HEINIÖ Concerto for Organ and Orchestra (2012-13) Dur: 25´ organ+2222-2200-10-str

At times the organ dances to the beat of an old Italian Saltarello, while at others it engages in sustained, intense dialogue with the orchestra.

The result is an impressive, sublime work steeped in colour.

At the heart of the concerto is the Summer Hymn familiar to all Finns, its theme sumptuously and variedly treated before building up to a mighty climax.

GUNNAR IDENSTAM Cathedral Music (1995-96) Dur: 76´ organ solo

This suite consists of 17 pieces where virtuosity, form, structure and sonorities from the French tradition of cathedral music are combined with the harmony and energy in the symphonically oriented rock music. There is also inspiration from Swedish folk music and Gregorian chant. Organ virtuoso Gunnar Idenstam offers us a soundscape filled with mysticism, playfulness, brilliance and euphoric delight. The pieces can also be performed separately.

NILS LINDBERG Dalecarlian Pictures (2013) Dur: 10´ organ+2222-2200-01-str

Lindberg´s Dalecarlian Pictures was composed for the inauguration of the new “Organ Acusticum” in Piteå, the largest organ in Scandinavia. The work is based on two folk tunes from Dalarna, a Horn Tune from Gagnef framed by a Marching Tune from Leksand.

Lindberg displays once again his skill in combining Swedish folk tradition with a classical tone language.

JYRKI LINJAMA Liturgical Concerto for Organ and Strings (2005) Dur: 25´ organ+strings: 6-6-4-4-2

This concerto can be performed either in concert or as part of divine worship.

In the opening movement the strings create a lyrical setting

HIGHLIGHTS

2/2016

Concert pieces for organ

REVIEWS Photo: Jan-Olav Wedin

REPER TOIR E TIPS

and the organ gradually becomes the focus of attention. The middle movement is based on Linjama’s own, jubilant choral transcription of the medieval Christmas carol Puer natus in Bethlehem, and shining through the last movement is a Gregorian chant.

ROLF MARTINSSON Chords and Bells (2008) Dur: 10´ organ solo

In this piece chords and harmonies become symbols for bells. The chords are presented in the quiet first part of the work, after which the sound of fragile bells appears, using colorful registrations and short, rhythmic touches. Towards the end of the piece the bells emerge with full force, furioso in forte fortissimo.

PEHR HENRIK NORDGREN Concerto for Organ and Chamber Orchestra (2007) Dur: 26´ organ+3perc-hp-str

This is a work of deep hues and dynamic variation against a serene orchestral soundscape. The undercurrent in Nordgren’s music is dark and the melodies are often melancholy and falling, but there is always a way to the light. Nordgren composed the concerto only a year before he died, and the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra premiered it with Jan Lehtola as the soloist in 2009.

FREDRIK SIXTEN Variations for Organ (2008) Dur: 14´ organ solo

11 variations on the Swedish folk song Visa från Åhl (Song from Åhl) intended for the myriad colours possible on a large symphonic instrument. Each of the eleven variations possesses a distinct identity. The contrasting movements include a section for double pedals, a scherzo, varying contrapuntal techniques, tender adagios, and a fugue, all of which are concluded by a toccata.

Commissioned and premiered by James D. Hicks.

BENJAMIN STAERN

Cape Town Opera Choir in African Prophetess

Larsson Gothe Festival Here there are dazzlingly beautiful transitions between piano and celesta, supporting brass parts and a fervent solo violin in conversation with a cello. Now and then Stravinsky casts a shadow over rhythmically intense passages. But above all it is his model Anders Eliasson who reappears in the contrast between expressive outbursts and reconciling calm. It is intertwined in a refined manner to form a unity.

Dagens Nyheter 8.4.

Mats Larsson Gothe: ”…de Blanche et Marie…”

– Symphony No. 3

The performance of African Prophetess was magnificent and explosive… Rhythmical and dramatic, with an apt staging of the choir and the soloists, this opera may very well be Larsson Gothe’s best work up till now. For once the audience´s standing ovations were not at all excessive…

Mats Larsson Gothe is a composer whose music is very accessible; all remaining prejudices about new art music being difficult come to nought. Aftonbladet 8.4.

Mats Larsson Gothe: African Prophetess Composer Weekend Festival: Royal Stockholm PO/Benjamin Shwartz, Cape Town Opera Company, Norrland Opera SO/Rumon Gamba, 7-10.4.2016 Stockholm, Sweden

Fluxus (2008) Dur: 10´ organ solo

The Latin word fluxus means flow.

In Staern´s work it is about different harmonic and rhythmical flows, which toward the end of the work are united in a dancing and virtuosic finale. Fluxus was written for Hans Fagius, who has played the work more than 30 times in venues throughout Europe and in Japan.

HARRI VIITANEN Firmamentum (1985-88) Dur: 45´ organ+2222-2220-03-str

The Firmamentum concerto is, says Viitanen – a keen astrologist – like a Mass in space. His aim was to convert the distances between constellations into relationships between notes. The organ rises out of the initial silence, after which different moods and elements, such as synthetic scales, a chorale and variations, and meditative episodes follow one another and in doing so create astonishing timbral effects that reach out to another reality.

Eliasson’s amazing sound world Eliasson’s sound world is depicted in well-balanced water colours… It is the most powerful in its quiet moments, when a strange beauty, unusual for contemporary music, makes its appearance – perhaps most beautiful in Anna Larsson’s contralto parts.

Dagens Nyheter 14.3.

Anders Eliasson: Dante Anarca Royal Stockholm PO, Eric Ericson Chamber Choir/Sakari Oramo, sol. Ingela Brimberg, Anna Larsson, Michael Weinius, Gabriel Suovanen, 10.3.2016 Stockholm, Sweden

It moves in the late Eliasson’s typical landscape in a state of pure stringency, a restless chromaticism and here also an almost folk-musical touch and accentuation… The soloist pair wandered together through violent outbursts, over calmer reflections to the finale’s fiddling and urgent soloist lines.

Dalarnas Tidning 10.4.

Anders Eliasson: Concerto per violin ed orchestra da camera Dala Sinfonietta/Daniel Blendulf, sol. Fredrik Paulsson, violin, Ellen Nisbeth, viola, 9.4.2016 Falun, Sweden

It has more to do with sonorities and atmosphere than with melodic and harmonic drive forward – congenial, since the poems depict states of mind, not narratives. Katija Dragojevic sings with a floating voice about consuming love, at the same time as the orchestra churns out a fascinating acoustic ambience.

Dagens Nyheter 14.3.

Marie Samuelsson: Aphrodite – Fragments by Sappho World premiere: Swedish Radio SO/Daniel Blendulf, sol. Katija Dragojevic, mezzo-soprano, 11.3.2016 Stockholm, Sweden

Wennäkoski’s work has an amazing effect. The music is refined, delicate and sustained. It is as if the musicians were addressing the listener all the time, both literally and in rhetorical gestures. Hufvudstadsbladet 17.4.

Lotta Wennäkoski: Amor Omnia Suite World premiere: Tampere PO/Ville Matvejeff, 15.4.2016 Tampere, Finland

Majestic Heininen concerto

High point of the evening …The one leaving a mesmerizing impression was the mystical “Eternal Echo”…it evolves with haunting solos, vocalise and echo effects, as if emanating from an isolated group attempting to make human contact…

This work skillfully blends distinct art forms in hybrid fashion, suggesting a provocative vein for other artists to develop. www.artssf.com 16.5.

Olli Kortekangas: Ikikaiku (Eternal Echo) Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir/Robert Geary, 14.5.2016 San Francisco, USA

Staern’s most beautiful composition

The Aiolos Organ Concerto by Paavo Heininen, lasting some half-an-hour in performance, is a mightily majestic work, but its copious material is credibly and captivatingly constructed. The wind band and organ often intertwine and the instruments imitate one another in such a way as to detract from the organ’s solo dominance. The performance by Jan Lehtola was simply brilliant. Aamulehti15.4.

Paavo Heininen: Aiolos, Concerto for Organ and Symphonic Band Guards Band/Petri Komulainen, sol. Jan Lehtola, 14.4. 2016 Tampere, Finland

Elegant Meriläinen Usko Meriläinen’s Visions and Whispers (1985) made a splendid concert come-back. The elegant, sensitive music of Meriläinen, flowing along with a natural breeziness, has become yet more refined with the passing of time. The rich orchestral writing and the sovereign solo playing by Mikael Helasvuo were completely at one. Aamulehti 16.4.

Benjamin Staern: Pont de la mer World premiere: Malmö SO/Marc Soustrot, sol. Einar Öhman, French horn, 30.4.2016 Malmö, Sweden

Usko Meriläinen: Visions and Whispers Tampere PO/Ville Matvejeff, sol. Mikael Helasvuo, flute, 15.4.2016 Tampere, Finland

Photo: Romain Etienne

He picks up colours and moods and mixes them into an almost impressionistic shimmer. Over against this he places the French horn´s solo part, almost luxurious in its melodic abundance… I would call “Pont de la mer” Benjamin Staern’s most beautiful composition thus far. Skånska Dagbladet 2.5.

Kalevi Aho

Mogens Dahl Chamber Choir

Wennäkoski’s Amor Omnia Suite Sandström casts light

The string quartet Brooklyn Rider from New York spins lovely violin threads through this peacefully billowing and often lamenting work… You don´t have to be a believer to find peace when Sandström, if only for 100 minutes, casts light on the way out of the darkness.

Dagens Nyheter 29.3.

Sven-David Sandström’s new work for Easter is incredibly beautiful music, and it is performed by an absolutely world-class chamber choir…

Berlingske 23.3.

Sven David Sandström: Passion of St. John Danish and Swedish premiere: Mogens Dahl Chamber Choir, Brooklyn Rider, Jens-Björn Larsen, tuba, sol. Daniel Carlsson, counter tenor, Lars Möller, baritone, 22.3. 2016 Copenhagen, Denmark, 23.3.2016, Lund, Sweden

Subtle melancholy A work that strikes a balance between unadulterated yearning for beauty and moderate anti-sentimentality. A subtle melancholy mood is heard right through the seven movements, and the contrast between the solo violin´s nakedness and the orchestra´s thundering power is utilised to the hilt… But the strongest impression is made by Ticciati, who gets everything to vibrate with tension. Dagens Nyheter 22.2.

Sven-David Sandström: Seven Pieces for Violin and Orchestra World premiere: O/Modernt Chamber Orchestra, Swedish Wind Ensemble/Kasper de Roo, sol. Hugo Ticciati, violin, 20.2.2016 Stockholm, Sweden

Breathtaking musical visions Kalevi Aho provided proof of his musical wisdom in his Saxophone Concerto… The concerto revealed his masterly command of instrumentation and the psychologically correct timing of events. Breathtakingly beautiful musical visions unfolded during the performance. In the orchestral part there were ingenious, attention-catching details in, among others, the harp and above all the percussions.

Satakunnan kansa 12.3.

A grand concerto that banished any preconceived ideas. The work variedly presented the instrument’s expressive potential, and Esa Pietilä’s gritty but strictly professional grasp brought a breath of the world of jazz that fit the work perfectly. An enjoyable premiere.

Etelä-Saimaa 19.3.

Kalevi Aho: Concerto for Tenor Saxophone and Orchestra Double premiere: Pori Sinfonietta/Jan Söderblom, Lappeenranta City Orchestra/ Tibor Bogányi, sol. Esa Pietilä 10.3.&17.3., Pori/Lappeenranta, Finland

Virtuosic fireworks We got half an hour of shifting moods, firm handling of form and material well suited to the solo instrument… The most memorable of the work’s five interlinked movements was the second, dominated by gloriously languorous musical arches on the woodwinds. In the third movement Mäenpää switched to hard sticks and set off a virtuosic display of rhythmic fireworks.

Turun Sanomat 24.4.

Kalevi Aho: Concerto for Timpani and Orchestra World premiere: Turku PO /Erkki Lasonpalo, sol. Ari-Pekka Mäenpää, 22.4.2016 Turku, Finland

HIGHLIGHTS

2/2016

Photo: Ole Christiansen

Lotta Wennäkoski

Congenial Samuelsson

Photo: Maarit Kytöharju

Photo: Mattias Ahlm

Katija Dragojevic

N E W P U B L I C AT I O N S VOCAL & CHORAL MATHIAS ALGOTSSON

GÉZA SZILVAY Scales and arpeggios for children 3 (Asteikkoja ja murtosointuja lapsille 3)

GE 12930

GE 12931

Speeches for mixed choir a cappella Text: The Rights of Woman (Olympe de Gouges), The Surrender Speech (Hinmuuttu-valatlat/Chief Joseph), The Best Friend (G. Graham Vest) (Eng) Winner of Allmäna Sången & Anders Wall Composition Award 2016 GE 12947

JYRKI LINJAMA Lieder der Elisabeth Four songs for mezzo-soprano, viola and piano Score (incl. parts) FG 9790-55011-282-7

Disegno No. 2 Beth Levin, piano Navona Records NV6016 (Personae)

MIKKO HEINIÖ Ilta (Evening) Key Ensemble/Teemu Honkanen, Erkki Lahesmaa, cello, Henna Jämsä, clarinet

FG 9790-55011-268-1

Fuga 9409

ARJA SUORSARANNANMÄKI Winner of Allmänna Sången & Anders Wall Composition Award 2016

Anna-Karin Klockar

SPEECHES ANNAKARIN KLOCKAR

ANDERS ELIASSON

TUTORS & BOOKS

Be Not Afraid for mixed choir a cappella Text: From the oratorium Elijah

by Felix Mendelssohn (Eng) Var inte rädd för mörkret/Oh, Do Not Fear the Darkness for mixed choir a cappella Text: Erik Blomberg/ transl. Linda Schenck (Sw/Eng)

NEW CDs

for mixed choir

The Rights of Woman Surrender Speech The Best Friend

Colour Keys – The Piano ABC, Book B This colourful, inspiring and modern piano method is a result of long pedagogical work and research at the Sibelius Academy.

It is suitable for even the youngest players and can be used in both private and group lessons.

MATS LARSSON GOTHE Symphony No. 2, Apotheosis of the Dance, Autumn Diary Västerås Sinfonietta, Helsingborg SO/Fredrik Burstedt dB Productions dBCD172

INGVAR LIDHOLM

FG 9790-55011-166-0

Fantasia sopra laudi Dan Styffe, double bass Simax PSC1342 (Octophonia)

HERMAN RECHBERGER Balkania Rhythms in songs and dances from Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, The Republic of Macedonia, Romania and Serbia A major reference compendium for everyone interested in world music and the Balkan especially. The book includes notation examples, pictures, rhythmic patterns and descriptions of traditional instruments.

KAI NIEMINEN Elegy, Hymnos II, Ancient Songs...

Tommi Hyytinen, horn, Päivi Severede, harp, Tuomas Turriago/ Emil Holmström piano, Pasi Eerikäinen, violin Pilfink Records JJVCD 162 (Tired Light - 21st century music for horn)

FG 9790-55011-281-0

SELIM PALMGREN JACOB MÜHLRAD Shevah for mixed choir a cappella Text: Genesis 1:1 (Hebrew) GE 12821

KJELL PERDER Love is All for mixed choir a cappella Text: 1 Cor. 13 (Eng) GE 12885

ORCHESTRAL & INSTRUMENTAL

Alba Records ABCD 385 (The River)

MATS LARSSON GOTHE

ALLAN PETTERSSON

The Apotheosis of the Dance for orchestra

Mats Larsson Gothe

GE 12932 (score), GE 12934 (study score) The Apotheosis of the Dance

INGVAR LIDHOLM

for orchestra

Nausikaa ensam/Nausikaa Alone Scene for soprano, choir and orchestra GE 12836 (score), GE 12839 (study score)

GE 12918 (full version) GE 12919 (short version)

EINOJUHANI RAUTAVAARA

NILS LINDBERG Dalabilder/Dalecarlian Pictures for organ and orchestra GE 12860 (score), GE 12862 (study score)

Rondo for mixed choir Text: Kalevala (Fin) FG 9790-55011-284-1

Concertino for Clarinet & Soundtrack for Clarinet in A or Basset Clarinet in A (+ CD) FG 9790-55011-283-4

Tröstlösa TRCD005 (Mest ibland tistlar)

Four songs from the opera Rasputin for mixed choir and orchestra, Rubáiyát, Balada, Into the Heart of Light (Canto V) Helsinki PO, Helsinki Music Centre Choir/John Storgårds, sol.

Gerald Finley, bass-baritone, Mika Pohjonen, tenor

JUHANI NUORVALA TAPIO TUOMELA

Barefoot Songs Ola Sandström, vocals, Mikael Karlsson, electric guitar, Anja Strautmanis, cello, Johan Renman, vibraphone

SCORE

KARIN REHNQVIST When I Close My Eyes, I Dream of Peace for mixed choir a cappella Text: Anonym Croatian boy (in 12 languages)

Piano Concertos Nos. 1, 2 and 3 Pori Sinfonietta/Jan Söderblom, sol. Henri Sigfridsson

Nils Lindberg

Dalabilder Dalecarlian Pictures

Rondino for SSAA choir Text: after Kanteletar (Fin)

for orchestra

SCORE

Ondine ODE 1274-2

JEAN SIBELIUS Norden – Songs by Jean Sibelius Pia Freund, soprano, Tommi Hakala, baritone, Kristian Attila, piano Alba Records ABCD 384

FG 9790-55011-285-8

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