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nHIGHLIGHTS o r d i c R F o r H E G M R A M N S U M S I Ö F K R E F & G A L Harri Wessman 7 questionsfor Dante Anarca c i n n H E G A 3/2016 R A M N NEWS

Rautavaara Colourstrings licensed in China Fennica Gehrman has signed an agreement with the lead- died in on 27 July at the age ing Chinese publisher, the People’s Music Publishing of 87. One of the most highly regarded and inter­nationally House, on the licensing of the teaching material for the best-known Finnish com­posers, he wrote eight symp­ Colourstrings violin method in China. The agreement honies, vocal and choral works, chamber and instrumen- covers a long and extensive partnership over publication of tal music as well as numerous , orchestral works the material and also includes plans for teacher training in and , the last of which was Rasputin (2001–03). China. The Colourstrings method developed byGéza and Rautavaara’s international breakthrough came with his Csaba Szilvay has spread far and wide in the world and 7th symphony, Angel of Light (1994) , when keen crit- is regarded as a first-class teaching method for stringed ics likened him to Sibelius. His best-beloved orchestral instruments. work is the for birds and orchestra, for which he personally recorded the sounds of the birds. Apart from being an acclaimed , Rautavaara had a fine intellect, was a mystical storyteller and had a masterly command of words. He was “the midwife of his composi- tions” and his task was to “deliver the music intact”. Like his music, many of his quotes have become cultural classics.

Complete Vigilia in New York Einojuhani Rautavaara’s extensive choral All-Night- (Vigilia) will receive its NY premiere in its complete form at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, on 15 November. Maestro Kent Tritle will conduct the Great , and the soloists will be Halley Gilbert, , Sara Murphy, mezzo-soprano, Marc Day, , Malcolm Merriweather, baritone and Matt Boehler, .

Heidi Kuusava, Ari Nieminen, Henna Salmela and Géza Schnelzer in LA and London Liverpool Philharmonic will give the English Szilvay at the Beijing Conservatory. Albert Schnelzer´s successful concert premiere of the The Enchanter opener A Freak in Burbank will receive its on 26 January with Francois Leleux as New by Sandström US West Coast premiere by the Los Angeles soloist. During the coming season BIS Sven-David Sandströms´s chamber opera Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Records will begin its recordings to what Föreställningen had its premiere at the Royal Opera Dausgaard on 29 and 30 October. will become two portrait CDs with Schnelzer’s (The Performance) during the Baltic Sea Festival in in August. Conducted by Jaime Martin, the Royal chamber and orchestral music. The plot takes place at Salpetrière Hospital in 19th-cen- tury Paris where three women, as part of their treatment, choral discs are to appear before the world famous physician Jean Choral music by Erik Bergman (1911–2006), the Grand Old Man of Finnish choral music, Martin Charcot and a distinguished audience. Katarina is soon available on two major sets of discs. Alba Records has released an impressive triple CD Frostenson´s powerful text and Sandström´s dynamic of his male choir works under the title Bergmaniana. Matti Hyökki conducts the Bergmania music picture the women, their innermost struggle, self- Ensemble and the male voices of the Vocal Ensemble, and the soloists include contempt and pain, but also the empathy that arises be- Petri Bäckström, Sampo Haapaniemi, Iida Antola and Rabbe Österholm. BIS records will tween them. The roles were sung by Tre Donne: Jeanette release a two-disc set of Bergman’s works for mixed choir recorded by the Helsinki Chamber Köhn, Katija Dragojevic and Miriam Treichl, that also Choir; the conductor is Nils Schweckendiek. The CD box is scheduled to appear in early 2017. initiated the project. (See: Reviews)

Lindberg conducts Pettersson nHIGHLIGHTS o r d i c 3/2016 NEWSLETTER FROM GEHRMANS MUSIKFÖRLAG & FENNICA GEHRMAN will conduct Staatsorchester Saarbrücken in three of ´s Barefoot Songs this October. Sound samples , video clips Baritone James Bobby is the soloist and it will be the first time that these songs are sung in German. In October/November and other material are available at Lindberg and the Norwegian Arctic Philharmonic www.gehrmans.se/highlights will go on tour with Pettersson´s Symphony No. 7 www.fennicagehrman.fi/highlights in , , and . th Cover photos: Sven-David Sandström’s opera The Lindberg will also conduct the 7 with the Performance (Martina Holmberg), Harri Wessman Norrköping Symphony Orchestra on 9 and (Liisa Wessman), Sakari Oramo Dante 10 November, in a concert programme Anarca (Jan-Olav Wedin) opening with the world premiere of the Editors: Henna Salmela and Kristina Fryklöf sketches to the seventeenth symphony that Translations: Susan Sinisalo and Robert Carroll Pettersson left behind unfinished. It will Design: Göran Lind ISSN 2000-2742 (Print), ISSN 2000-2750 (Online) be almost ten minutes of music that Printed in Sweden by TMG Sthlm, Bromma 2016 Lindberg has compiled. Photo: Mats Bäcker

H i ghl i ghts 3 / 2 0 1 6 Nuorvala in the MCME concert series by Juhani Nuorvala can be heard at a P re m ieres series of three concerts in Russia – in Perm and Moscow Autumn 2016 – on 23–26 September. The Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble will play his Five Pieces for and LARS KARLSSON and , and Concerto Clarinet, Boost , Ruoikkohuhuilu Pianotarha Lapland CO/John Storgårds, sol. Christoffer Sundqvist Nuorvala will himself play in the performances 28.9. Rovaniemi, Finland in

ste (electronics, live electronics and keyboard). The n te i concerts will also include Finnish video art and ANNA-KARIN KLOCKAR Två sånger om kärlek

yah Bre music by young recommended by (Two Songs about Love) Alli Nuorvala and chosen by the performers. La Cappella Ladies Choir/Tony Margeta

Photo: 29.9. , Sweden

MARIE SAMUELSSON Awards and nominations Eros Effect and Solidarity – Love Trilogy No. 3 The Finnish Music Publishers Association choseLotta Wennä­koski Nordic CO/Sarah Ioannides as the Composer of the Year in September. The Gramophone 8.10. Sundsvall, Sweden u j wrote last year that this composer has long been considered ‘one ff

sto KIMMO HAKOLA li

to watch’ in Finland. ytöhar

K Creazy Op. 94 t Mats Larsson Gothe’s “…de Blanche et Marie…” – Symphony i Horácio Ferreira, clarinet

No. 3 has been nominated for the Nordic Council´s Music : Marco Fek 19.10. London (Barbican), UK HOTO P Prize 2016. According to the jury the symphony is “an excep- Photo: Maar tional work in which the harmony has a direction that continuously takes us on to different spaces and moods. Double Concerto for English Horn and Harp Larsson Gothe invites the listener to contemplation as well as challenge in a wilful and beautiful universe of tones.” DeFilharmonie/Martyn Brabbins, sol. Anneleen Lenaerts, harp, Dimitri Mestdag, cor anglais 21.10. Antwerp, Belgium Operas on stage in 2017 Violin Concerto No. 2 A production by the Finnish Chamber Opera of the Kymi Sinfonietta/Eugene Tzigane, sol. Elina Vähälä new opera Hemingway by Timo-Juhani Kyllönen is 30.11. Kotka, Finland to be staged in Espoo in September 2017. Singing KAI NIEMINEN the leading roles will be Sauli Tiilikainen, Monica Frammenti dal buio Groop, Petri Lindroos and Mari Palo, and the stage Trio La Rue (Virva Garam, , g Susanna Arminen, violin, Markus Pelli, cello) er director is Vilppu Kiljunen. The libretto byMaritza b 26.10. Roma (Villa Lante), Italy Núñez is based on the life of Ernest Hemingway. Waester Also to be premiered next year is the opera Aino f PER GUNNAR PETERSSON An Anonymous Nun´s Prayer Ackté by Ilkka Kuusisto, when arts folk in the Savon- : Gusta

HOTO SVEN-DAVID SANDSTRÖM linna region combine forces to put on a joint pro- P O Sacrum Convivum duction. The opera is about the singerAino Ackté, a Mogens Dahl Chamber Choir/Mogens Dahl dedicated artist who became internationally famous Norrbotten NEO gives 6.11. Copenhagen, and created the Savonlinna Opera Festival. The an Eliasson portrait world premiere is scheduled for 28 October. The chamber ensemble Norrbotten NEO has recorded LOTTA WENNÄKOSKI Sedecim The opera Luther by Kari Tikka is a very fit- four works by on BIS Records: Not- Sibelius Academy SO/Atso Almila ting choice for the 500th anniversary of the Refor- turno, Senza risposte, the piano quartet Fogliame and Trio 18.11. Lahti, Finland mation in 2017, and there are plans for performances for Violin, Vibraphone and Piano. The CD is scheduled in Finland, plus two in during the autumn. to be released in connection with Norrbotten NEO’s JACOB MÜHLRAD Eliasson portrait concert at the Stockholm Concert Hall Skall aldrig mer finnas Those in the towns of Isny and Wangen will be given (Will Be No More) by the Wangen Oratorio Choir and the Opernbühne on 12 March next year. The concert programme will also Petri Singers, string ensemble/Alexander Einarsson Württembergisches Allgäu conducted by Friedrich- include Fantasia per sei strumenti , which Eliasson 20.11. Malmö, Sweden Wilhelm Möller. wrote on commission for the ensemble in 2009.

Blomdahl and Malmlöf-Forssling centenaries This year we are celebrating the centenaries of Karl-Birger Blomdahl (1916-1968) and Carin Malmlöf-Forssling (1916-2005). Best known for his opera Aniara (1958), Blomdahl was one of the leading Swedish modernists of his time. In Gehrmans cata- logue you will find his orchestral works from the 1940s, when his music was influ- enced by the Baroque and . They include Concerto Grosso, Pastoral Suite, Preludio e allegro, Symphony No. 2 and the Stage Music from the Walpurgis Night. Carin Malmlöf-Forssling studied composition with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. She was a pioneer among Swedish female composers and the first, and for many years the only female member of the Society of Swedish Composers. In our cata- logue you will find the expressiveRelease for string orchestra, the vigorous Orizzonte for solo horn, the Silver Quartet (String Quartet No. 1), Ahimsa and other choral works, as well as a number of beautiful solo songs.

H i ghl i ghts 3 / 2 0 1 6 Seven questions for Harri Wessman

Finnish composer Harri Wessman loves the sound of a choir and strings. His pieces for children are popular with teachers, and the critics have described his music as gently dissonant n a and dance-like, and also melodic. He compares the composi- m

tional process with another art he loves, namely cooking. sa Wess ii Photo: L 1 How did you come to music? quite romantic, in others dance-like. Jouko Harjanne Danish film Babette’s Feast directed by Gabriel I came to music at the school in where, recorded it with the Finnish Radio Symphony Axel of what cooking is fundamentally all about. in the early 1960s, Erkki Pohjola had founded the Orchestra conducted by , and Ole Tapiola Choir that later became famous the world Edvard Antonsen later made an equally brilliant 6 And what about your pieces for teaching over. I played the cello and double bass in the cham- recording for BIS, with the Sundsvall Chamber purposes? How do they take shape and what ber orchestra that accompanied it. My image of how Orchestra conducted by Christian Lindberg. must you bear in mind when composing them? music should sound to a great extent derives from Writing pieces for teaching purposes alongside that time. I love the sound of a children’s choir and 3 How do you believe your music comes across other works has turned out to be a lengthy project. strings, but I’ve always been a bit afraid of winds to the listener? Maybe sometime during my lifetime I’ll manage to and things that rattle. It was also around then that I Most people regard music as emotional commu- produce pieces suitable for all instruments and the became close friends with Jaakko Ilves the violinist, nication, unless they’re the type who hear music different Music Institute grade exams. I don’t write Risto Poutanen the cellist, Ilmo Ranta the pianist more as a sort of aural architecture, as a sound con- children’s music. Stylistically I write in the same and Jarmo Kankaanpää the bassist. I have writ- struct, as mobile acoustic forms. These approaches way as for professionals; technically, the pieces just ten two piano trios for the Ilves–Poutanen–Ranta are not mutually exclusive, and the emotional com- have to be easier to play. Most difficult of all is writ- Trio – the Tapiola Trio. In spirit they are in the “neo- munication dimension is, I believe, also possible in ing for children who are complete beginners. The pathos” style that, back in those early days and with a wilder and less traditional idiom. pieces need to be rich in expression, and in order to a touch of playful self-irony, we called our “school”. achieve this, you have to make full use of everything We wanted to put across the emotional dimension 4 Where do you find the inspiration for your that’s idiomatic in the instrument. You also have to of music at a time when it wasn’t fashionable in compositions? include elements that are natural to the present day modern, and certainly not avant-garde circles. The majority of my compositions have been com- and age: timbres, special effects that are easy to pro- missions, and luckily they incorporate a social duce, and so on. Not just for the sake of it, however, 2 Which works of yours mean the most to you? aspect: they’ve been for a particular performer or but to reinforce the musical message. I used to get a bit annoyed that my old song Water un- performers. Communicating with the musicians How can you do this when experience has der Snow is Weary (Vesi väsyy lumen alle) for choir is extremely inspiring. The commissions have also shown that if you commission composers to write is particularly highly rated at the expense of my other had a fixed deadline, and that’s a good stick for la- pieces suitable for children, they turn out to be too works. After all, I wrote the first version back in 1973, zybones. I don’t seek inspiration in a birch forest, difficult? To avoid this, I dedicate works to a specific when my composition studies had barely got under or walking along the seashore; I’m happiest in an young player working for a particular exam. With way. I suppose I would have liked some later, more urban environment. Yet I consider myself lucky if the pupil and teacher I run through the techniques ambitious work to evoke similar reactions. I don’t I have sufficient time on my own, and peace and that the child already masters and those that still are think quite like that any more. It’s an advantage for any quiet while work is in process – but also to be able required before taking the grade exam. I find out composer to have one piece that is played and recorded to discuss things with the future performer. how fast the player can handle staccatos, whether over and over again. New CDs with this choral work the young clarinettist can manage frullato, and so on. of mine are constantly being released in the United 5 How would you describe your composition That done, I know the limitations and the recipe. States. The international success of this song was un- process and your musical language? doubtedly influenced by the fact that the Tapiola Choir All kinds of material interest me: timbres, rhythm, 7 What plans do you have for new compositions? sang it on its international tours in the 1970s and 80s. harmony, melody, technology, folk music. At one I’ve got a commission from the Lauttasaari Music The words are by the Estonian poetessEha Lättemäe time I derived great strength from the book Twen- Institute for a Concertino for Flute and String Orches- (1922–2012), who used engaging and purposely na- tieth Century Harmony by Persichetti. tra in which the young virtuoso Peppi Kajoluoto ive imagery to weave her poems. Beneath them it is Also important was the thorough grounding in has agreed to be the soloist. Another interesting possible to discern a second level, the one she used to jazz harmony I received from Eero Koivistoinen challenge is a Concerto for Viola D’amore for Sirkka- escape from the pressure to which she was subjected. at the Sibelius Academy. Joonas Kokkonen taught Liisa Kaakinen-Pilch. I remember the words of She was not allowed to do the work for which she was me for nearly a decade with the patience of a psy- Joonas Kokkonen when I tell myself a composer trained or to travel abroad. What sort of metaphor is chotherapist and succeeded in inoculating me with should work hard. He once said in a different con- there hidden in the opening words Water under snow a technique for making musical motifs and ideas text: “In certain circumstances, even a composer, is weary, under ice it stretches sleeping? evolve into bigger and psychologically coherent deserves to be sacked.” So start notating – pronto I wrote the Trumpet Concerto in 1987 as units. Critics have sometimes described my music – and carpe diem. Life is not as long as we’d like! a commission from the Kemi Music Institute for as gently dissonant and dance-like, and also me- 17-year-old Pasi Pirinen. He gave it a masterly lodic. I do not refute this. The composition process H enn a S a l m el a performance, and even now I still look upon it as has a close affinity with another art I love, namely one of my best compositions. In some places it’s cooking. There is a magnificent description in the

H i ghl i ghts 3 / 2 0 1 6 Photos: Jan-Olav Wedin Dante Anarca – ‘‘a future classic”

Conductor Sakari Oramo was in hospital with pneumonia on the day that he What do you feel towards the work today? – I feel small before it. We have a great deal of work was scheduled to premiere “Dante Anarca” in Stockholm in 1998. But eigh- ahead of us. But I certainly enjoy it. The music is teen years later, on 11 March this year, when Anders Eliasson´s monumental actually written in a way that is rather practical. oratorio was performed for the second time in history, Oramo stood on the podi- Not difficult. Rather simple. But it still contains um at the Stockholm Concert Hall together with some 180 singers and musicians. many colours and dimensions. – It is a great event that the work now will be He pronounced the work “a future classic”. Journalist Maria Schottenius met him performed again. And the audience should receive for an interview before the performance in March. the music with an open mind. It is really immedi- ately pleasing music.

Work on the oratorio got started when the – I remember that I thought, Wow, one can do Has Anders Eliasson caught up with his times? Italian author Giacomo Oreglia (1924-2007), active it this way too! The music was sparse; the thick – Yes indeed, he has a great potential to become in Sweden, sent a manuscript to composer Anders sonorities that were common in the 90´s were successful internationally as well. Eliasson in the year 1993. Oreglia wanted Eliasson totally absent. But Eliasson was of course an un- to set to music his poem Dante Anarca e i suoi sei usual person, he wasn´t at home in our time, says How would you place Eliasson among other maestri (Dante the Anarch and his ‘six masters’: Vir- Oramo. composers? gil, the Virgin Mary, Gioacchino de Fiore, St. Francis – When I read Dante Anarca I often think of Igor of Assisi, Siger of Brabant, and Dante himself). The – I also thought about how he tackled the many Stravinsky´s neoclassical works, but also Karl- work is inspired by texts from the late Middle Ages homages in the text, “O Saint Francis” and so on. Birger Blomdahl´s music, as the nearest Swedish and early Renaissance, and deals with spirituality and We don´t have the culture of homage here. It is comparison. But Anders would probably have said, uprising, reconciliation and visions of the future. It not Swedish, not Finnish, not at all Nordic. And “Hell no!” says Sakari Oramo. was not until 1998, when Stockholm was appointed I wondered what Anders Eliasson was thinking the Culture Capital of the year, that this composition there. For he was not exactly a person who paid Ma ri a S c h otteni u s was finished after an intensive period toward the end homage liberally, rather the opposite. of which Eliasson worked 18 hours a day with pen This interview was published in Dagens Nyheter on 8 March 2016. and paper to meet the deadline. What did he do then? – He brought out the homages a few times, under- – He deserved an artistic gold medal for what he lined them, and passed them up other times. He Footnotes achieved, says Tony Lundman, who in 2012 pub- was of course a man of the opposition in musical lished a biography of Anders Eliasson (1947-2013). life; he was no mainstream modernist, but at the * Anders Eliasson’s Dante Anarca was performed on 11 and 13 March – This is his magnum opus, and the lyrical qualities same time quite modern when he allowed his by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Eric Ericson Chamber in works that he wrote later, in the first decades of music to grow out of a modernised harmony. Choir (extended to 70 singers) and soloists Ingela Brimberg, soprano, the 21st century, are already noticeable here, he says. Anna Larsson, , Michael Weinus, tenor and Gabriel Suovanen, baritone, conducted by Sakari Oramo. – It includes all the fascinating dimensions that What do you see now that you didn´t see then? made him one of our century´s finest composers. – I tend to see now that some sections are ex- * The International Anders Eliasson Society, based in , But the work was forgotten. What pained Eliasson, tremely sober and others, like the humble mo- was formed in connection with the performances of Dante Anarca just as much as the cancer when he was dying, was ments in the third movement “La candida rosa”, in March, and with Sakari Oramo as one of its honorary members. Chairman of the society is Dr. Peter Kislinger, broadcaster at the the awareness that he would never get to experience are moving in an almost religious way. Devoted, ORF (Austrian Radio/Ö1). The purpose of the society is to spread another performance of Dante Anarca. says Oramo. knowledge of the composer Anders Eliasson, and to promote performances, recordings and research of his music. Please visit the Conductor Sakari Oramo tells what he was think- Is it a matter of interpreting the text or society´s home page: anders-eliasson-society.com, where you will ing during the rehearsals of the work then, in 1998, personal conviction on Eliasson´s part? also find information about how to become a member. and now. – I think both. What it means is a mystery.

H i ghl i ghts 3 / 2 0 1 36 REVIEWS

Broström’s high-flying Sputnik With the aid of a small ensemble from the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields his [Hardenberger’s] trum- pet hit stratospheric heights in Tobias Broström’s high-flying “Sputnik”

Financial Times 9.8. n sso Tobias Broström’s piece whizzed, spiralled and v spluttered for five minutes, with Håkan Harden- as Gusta l k berger’s piercing piccolo trumpet leading strings i and piano. Jacob Kellermann playing Air-Spiral-Light Classical Source 8.8. Photo: N Tobias Broström: Sputnik Benjamin Staern in Båstad UK premiere: Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields/Håkan “Dropwaves” is a piano sonata disguised as pro­ Hardenberger, 6.8.2016 London (BBC Proms), UK grammatic water music: drops turn into waves, which then become currents. It is obvious here Rare gems on Melartin disc that Staern knows his music history. There is a Moving capriciousness taken from Cage´s music of the 40´s Major composers in Finland’s musical history deserve Englund’s (first movement), an extreme proximity to Messi- to be released from the shadow of Sibelius. Some aen (second movement) and flowing water as with gems may then be discovered, such as the volup- fourth Liszt and Debussy (third movement). The young tuous Traumgesicht. This may well be placed on a Einar Englund’s David Huang was simply phenomenal at par with the tone poems of Sibelius, Richard Strauss Symphony No. 4 for the piano. This is sure to become a repertoire piece. or Alexander Scriabin. strings and percussion Svenska Dagbladet 1.7. Helsingin Sanomat 17.8. is a sort of homage to In “Air-Spiral-Light” the sonorities span over an The symphonic poem Traumgesicht and the expan- Shostakovich. Deeply ex­tremely broad spectrum, from the airiest sounds made by glass tuned to different pitches and a bull- sive orchestral song Marjatta demonstrate Melartin’s moving, it operates between introverted roarer, to African djembe drums and in-between a propensity for impressionism and orchestral experi- solo guitar that in itself comprises flageolets and the gloominess and ment. The fantastical dream poem and Marjatta, a sort pluckiest of sounds… Staern invites his audience extroverted optimism of sister work to , are magnificent works. to join in with the happening and share his joy of Rondo 8/2016 tinged with nostalgia. discovery in the endless possibilities of music. Erkki Melartin: Traumgesicht, Marjatta, Hufvudstadsbladet 30.7. Helsingborgs Dagblad 1.7. Music from the ballet The Blue Pearl Einar Englund: Symphony No. 4 Kellermann and the likewise brilliant ensemble, CD: Finnish RSO/Hannu Lintu, sol. Soile Isokoski, soprano Ostrobothnian CO/Sakari Oramo, 27.7.2016 Korsholm, Finland led by Christian Karlsen, have invited us to (Ondine 1283-2) embark on a dangerous ride… passages where Aristocratic choral music swinging, rhythmical music (in which Stravinsky flits by in something resembling frenetic jazz) Out of the ordinary The weightiest work on the disc is the six-part Missa runs amok, gets derailed and crash-lands in the Plunging boldly into his jungle of notes, Nieminen a cappella by Kokkonen, aristocratic liturgical music most wonderful ways. knows how to serve up out-of-the-ordinary flavours in homophonic style in which the rich Gloria and Dagens Nyheter 4.7. for the listener not jelled on the tonal candies of art Credo are sung with a strong, compelling pulse while Benjamin Staern: Dropwaves, Air-Spiral-Light music. the idiom of the Sanctus and Agnus Dei is more World premieres: David Huang, piano, Jacob Kellermann, guitar, Keskisuomalainen 11.8. meditative and complex. Camilla Hoitenga, flute, Karin Dornbusch, clarinet, Magdalena Hufvudstadsbladet 15.6. Meitzner, percussion, Lendvai String Trio, Arne Bock, electronics, Concert of chamber works by Kai Nieminen cond. Christian Karlsen, 29.6. and 1.7.2016 Båstad Chamber Joonas Kokkonen: Missa a cappella Erkki Palola, violin and viola, Tuomas Mali, piano, 9.8.2016 Music Festival, Sweden Jyväskylä, Finland CD: Cantores Minores/Hannu Norjanen (Fuga 9405)

Ilta (Evening) with Key Ensemble and Impressive Ilta by Mikko Heiniö Thrilling climax ERI Dance Theatre The sound of the a cappella choir shimmers and The undisputed climax of the concert was the vibrates almost à la Rautavaara. Heiniö cleverly premiere performance of Heiniö’s Three Morning applies his readily-accessible and directly com- Songs. In the closing movement of this profound, municative yet never banal or predictable style as feverishly galloping cycle, baritone Haapaniemi befits the situation…the music evokes the most and pianist Ville Matvejeff flashed their virtuosic varied of visual associations. skills and swept the audience along. Hufvudstadsbladet 17.8. Turun Sanomat 17.8. Ilta (Evening) is so far the choir’s most impressive com- Mikko Heiniö: Three Morning Songs mission… Heiniö plumbs various aspects of evening World premiere: Sampo Haapaniemi, baritone, Ville Matvejeff, in dream-like fashion: longing for love and death, piano, 12.8. 2016 , Finland (Turku Music Festival) comforting and threatening darkness intermingle. The work is also an interesting multi-lingual anthology of evening poetry from Aleksis Kivi to Baudelaire. RondoClassic 6/2016

ekäs Mikko Heiniö: Ilta (Evening) Kiv i CD: Key Ensemble/Teemu Honkanen, Erkki Lahesmaa, cello, Henna Jämsä, clarinet (Fuga 9409) Photo: Matt

H i ghl i ghts 3 / 2 0 1 6 Repertoire tips MATS LARSSON GOTHE nucleus consists of five short, succinct episodes surrounded The Autumn Diary by preludes and interludes – approaches and shifts – and finally a drawing away, a coda. The work is an enchanting (2013-14) Dur: 21’ 2222-2200-01-str In Larsson Gothe’s musical diary some days dialogue of movement and purpose, . are serene and harmonious, while others Autumnal works are dramatic and chaotic. There are sleepless nights where the EINOJUHANI RAUTAVAARA tempo slows down and the music becomes contemplative. A (1999) Dur: 28’ 2222/2000/11/str beautiful Lamento towards the end of the work, lends peace of As Robert Layton wrote: “At times through HUGO ALFVÉN mind, if only for a short while. The work ends with “extremely the foliage one almost catches, as it were, En Skärgårdssägen (A Legend from expressive” and agitated high strings pitted against dark bas- a glimpse of a Sibelian landscape.” The name of this beauti- the Skerries) (1904) Dur: 16’ soons and a dry, rumbling timpani. 3344-4231-12-2hp-str ful, grandiose work is from the opera The House of the Sun: According to Alfvén this is a lyrical sym- ‘like a butterfly in a dark autumn garden’, and the musical phonic tone poem depicting the outskirts of the archipelago Syksy/Höst (Autumn) (1930/orch motif is heard as the theme in the first movement. in a nocturnal autumn atmosphere, in the glittering moon- 1940) Dur: 17’ Song cycle for high voice light, in a heaving storm, in dreamy tranquillity and in a SVEN-DAVID SANDSTRÖM and orchestra: 2232-3331-11-hp-str Étude No. 4 as in E minor (1987) struggle for life – a portrayal that at the same time lets the Text: L. Onerva (Finnish/Swedish) nature images throughout offer an analogue to the dark Madetoja’s dark and atmospheric cycle consists of five Dur: 18’ happiness of human suffering. six-part divisi a cappella choir songs to texts by L. Onerva, a famous poet and Madetoja’s Text: Tobias Berggren (Swedish) wife. The scale of the songs ranges from potent, brooding Sandström’s setting of Berggren’s poem about late sum- ANDREAS HALLÉN nature scenes to sensitive, minimalistic shades. Originally Im Herbst/Om hösten (In Autumn) mer’s lushness before the impending collapse, is painted composed for voice and piano. in romantic colours. He follows sensitively the fundamental (1895) Dur: 12’ 2022-2000-10-str Two highly romantic miniature tone paint­ mood of the melancholic and sensual poem with a feeling KAI NIEMINEN for all its nuances and changes. The work has a well-nigh ings. The first ‘Elfentanz in Mondeszauber’­ In Mirrors of Time... (Through is a light, airy, glowing and atmospheric piece, while the orchestral texture with its up to 12 individual choral parts Colours of Autumn) (2000) Dur: 14’ and soloist features. second, ‘Traumbilder in Dämmerungsschein’, has a more 2221-1100-11-hp-str serious Nordic National-Romantic and passionate character. The timbral world of this work is delicate, WILHELM STENHAMMAR fragile and airy. The work opens with a meditative strings- Late Summer Nights (1914) MIKKO HEINIÖ harp dialogue. The winds occasionally add deeper hues, but Dur: 17’ piano solo Syyskesän laulu (Late Summer the mood is softly opaque throughout. Out of the shimmer- A late-romantic piano suite that with Song) (2008) Dur: 17’ baritone (or ing texture rises a harp, which occupies an important role a tinge of sadness evokes images of bass) and orchestra: 2222-2200-01-str in the work. Text: Lassi Nummi (Finnish) summer drawing to a close. The first piece is introspec- Heiniö combines lyrical expression with beautiful, elastic orches- PEHR HENRIK NORDGREN tive and pensive, the second gives a presentiment of the tration and Nummi’s tender texts. The sensitive, impressionistic Autumnal Concerto (1974) Dur: 30’ coming autumn storms, the third is more reflective and mood is airy and heedful throughout. This is music with subtle traditional Japanese instruments (shaku- impressionistic, in the fourth the tones gush forth like gestures, and everything in the score is carefully thought-out hachi, shamisen, koto, jushichigen) and water after a downpour, while the last piece, Poco Presto, and weighty. Available also for voice and piano. orchestra: 3333-3221-06-hp-pf.cel-str has a folksy character. The years he spent in Japan as a student were a momentous ex- LARS-ERIK LARSSON perience for Nordgren and their impact is reflected in this work. VELJO TORMIS Intimate Miniatures (Late Autumn A magnificent, intensive blend of Western and Japanese sounds, Autumn Landscapes / Sügismaastikud Leaves) (1938) Dur: 15’ string quartet the Concerto is one of the best examples of his unorthodox, id- (orch. 2009) Dur: 6’ str Larsson´s charming, neoclassical Intimate iosyncratic style. This is a part of the Reminiscentiae suite Miniatures is written in exquisite autum- for string orchestra – originally written nal colours and was originally composed to be interspersed HANNU POHJANNORO for choir. Its five movements can be played separately or with the reading of poems from Ola Hansson´s “Late Au- rooms of autumn/syksyn huoneet in any order and they include Spring Sketches (xyl/str), tumn Leaves”. The four pieces start with a romantic and mel- (1997) Dur: 11’ string quartet Summer Pictures (2perc/str), Winter Patterns (trp in Bb/ ancholy Adagio, followed by a dance-like Allegro moderato Pohjannoro began writing the quartet str) and St. John’s Day Songs (str). An instantly accessible, in triple time, a lyrical and melodious Andante sostenuto, in August 1996, and something of the sonorous piece with velvety strings in the opening move- concluding with a rhythmical Allegro in quintuple time. autumn light and wind seems to have stuck to the music. Its ment.

Tre Donne: Jeanette Köhn, Miriam Treichl and Katija Dragojevic. Sandström’s much needed opera Sandström´s music eschews spectacular outbursts by hysterical prima donnas, but touches on the grief of divas with wounded souls. With an ensemble put together with sure instinct, it quivers with aching beauty and melodic melancholy, tender- ness, and fragility. One has a presentiment of the women´s anxiety and agitated alarm in the swift fluctuations of the music. The group ‘Tre Donne’ are devoted and loyal to their roles. Svenska Dagbladet 30.8. The shiftings between cruelty and beauty have, it seems, become something of a trademark for Sandström, but here the contrasts have been set to music with unusually delicate nuances …The Performance is a much needed opera about

g vulnerability. er Dagens Nyheter 30.8. lmb o H

a Sven-David Sandström: Föreställningen (The Performance) in World premiere: Tre Donne (Jeanette Köhn, soprano, Katija Dragojevic, Miriam Treichl, mezzo-), musicians from the Royal Opera Orchestra/Mattias Böhm, 28.8.2016, Stockholm, Sweden Photo: Mart

H i ghl i ghts 3 / 2 0 1 6 new p u b li c ati o ns

JONAS VALFRIDSSON sco res In Killing Fields Sweet tuto rs Butterfly Ascend TOBIAS BROSTRÖM for orchestra La Danse GE 12258 (score), GE 12881 (study score) CSABA SZILVAY for orchestra Colourstrings Cello ABC: GE 12039 (score), GE 12980 (study score) Book G The focus is on scales and Hungarian Dance No. 6 modes, positions and intonation, (J. Brahms/arr: T. Broström) parallel and relative keys, whole for trumpet, banjo, accordion, piano tone scale, chromatic scale, and string orchestra twelve-tone technique and GE 12956 (score) distance scales. Sputnik FG 979-0-55009-483-3 version for piccolo trumpet, piano Cello ABC – Daily Cello Technique and string orchestra (2 ad lib) These exercises complement the Cello ABC GE 12951 (score), GE 12953 (study score) method but can also be used independently. FG 979-0-55011-277-3

CHo r AL C HAMBE R & i n ST RUME N TAL new C D s SUSANNA LINDMARK KALEVI AHO Song of Praise Partita for SSAA choir and cello for cello and guitar ERIK BERGMAN Text: The composer (Eng) FG 979-0-55011-293-3 (score) Works for male choir GE 12962 A new work from Aho written Bergmania Ensemble, and premiered in 2016. Sibelius Academy Vocal Ensemble/Matti Hyökki Alba ABCD 392 (3CD) CHRISTIAN ENGQUIST For the Worried and Weak EINAR ENGLUND for mixed choir a cappella String Quartet Text: The composer (Eng) FG 979-0-55011-292-6 (score), FG 979-0-55011-291-9 (parts) GE 12971 BENGT HAMBRAEUS Piano Concerto SWR Sinfonieorchester KATZENJAMMER/ TOMMIE HAGLUND Baden-Baden und Freiburg/ Miraggio ARR: HENRIK DAHLGREN for soprano (vocalise), violin, Israel Yinon, sol. Ortwin God’s Great Dust Storm Stürmer cello and piano Text: The composer (Eng) GE 12804 (score and parts) NEOS 11311 for mixed choir, tambourine and bass drum GE 12961 for SSAA choir, tambourine INGVAR LIDHOLM JOONAS KOKKONEN and bass drum GE 13019 Klavierstück 1949 Missa a cappella for piano solo GE 13031 EINOJUHANI RAUTAVAAVA Credo for mixed choir Cantores Minores/ KIRMO LINTINEN A new edition with texts C.I.D. Hannu Norjanen both in Finnish and Swedish Fuga 9405 for wind quintet FG 979-0-55011-290-2 FG 979-0-55011-297-1 (score), ERKKI MELARTIN FG 979-0-55011-296-4 (parts) Traumgesicht, JEAN SIBELIUS/ Marjatta, Music from the ballet ARR: TIMO LEHTOVAARA ALBERT SCHNELZER The Blue Pearl Five Songs / Aqua Songs Finnish RSO/Hannu Lintu, Fem Julsånger Op. 1 for piano quintet sol. Soile Isokoski for mixed choir Composed for the celebration Ondine 1283-2 FG 979-0-55011-288-9 (English text) of HM King Carl XVI Gustaf of FG 979-0-55011-287-2 (Swedish text) Sweden’s 70th birthday GE 12886 (score and parts), HERMAN RECHBERGER GE 12887 (study score) Assahra NINA ÅKERBLOM NIELSEN Trio Fratres (Toni Hämäläinen, Missa nova Sofiae Heikki Jokiaho, Raimo for soloist, mixed choir, flute, double JENNAH VAINIO Vertainen, accordions) bass, piano, percussion ad lib. Odin’s Beard Fuga 9408 ”Live at Kuhmo Text in Latin for wind quintet Chamber Music” GE 12987–12991 FG 979-0-55011-295-7 (score), FG 979-0-55011-294-0 (parts)

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