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Larcher: Symphony No. 2, "Kenotaph" - Die Nacht der Verlorenen / Lintu, FRSO

Ondine

Available as CD

~~$18.99~~ $9.49

Nov 19, 2021

Austrian composer Thomas Larcher (b. 1963) is one of the great symphonists of our era. This album by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and conductor Hannu Lintu includes the first recording of his 2nd Symphony, ‘Kenotaph’, and the song cycle ‘Die Nacht der Verlorenen’ performed by the world-known baritone Andrè Schuen. Larcher’s symphony was written in 2015–2016 to a commission from the National Bank of Austria for its bicentenary. The premiere was given by the Vienna Philharmonic under Semyon Bychkov at the Musikverein in Vienna in June 2016. Larcher’s work, originally intended as a concerto for orchestra, engages with tradition as a fertile background, while still embodying the sound and consciousness of our time. The subtitle to Larcher’s work was motivated by the painful awareness of the thousands of refugees who have drowned in the Mediterranean. The work can also be understood as a more general meditation on human tragedy and an exploration of profound existential issues. Larcher ties the material of the work together with a strong sense of dramaturgy, intense emotional expression and a feeling for musical narrative. The song cycle ‘Die Nacht der Verlorenen’ for baritone and large ensemble sets fragments by Ingeborg Bachmann (1926–1973) that were posthumously published. Bachmann’s dark texts inspired Larcher to write intense and compelling music that is entirely in tune with the mood of the poems. Overall, the work is dominated by slow, meditative and often dreamlike and unreal moods, effectively underpinned by delicate and carefully designed scoring that conjures up a multitude of colors and shades.

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Larcher: Symphony No. 2, "Kenotaph" - Die Nacht der Verlorenen / Lintu, FRSO

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CD

Ondine

Nov 19, 2021

ODE 1393-2

Saariaho: True Fire, Trans & Cier d'hiver / Lintu, Finnish Symphony Orchestra

Ondine

Available as CD

~~$18.99~~ $14.99

May 10, 2019

Kaija Saariaho (b. 1952) is among the most prominent names in contemporary music scene today. This new album by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Hannu Lintu includes world première recordings of three works by Saariaho featuring bass-baritone Gerald Finley and harpist Xavier de Maistre as soloists. True Fire is a six-movement song cycle that was written to a commission from the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the NDR Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestre National de France, for baritone Gerald Finley with an original idea to explore the scope of the baritone voice. The texts conclusively determined what the vocal expression would be like and how the details in the musical material would shape up. The disparate texts chosen by Saariaho in fact have a common underlying theme: the status of humankind surrounded by nature, our observations of it and our belonging to it. Saariaho’s orchestral triptych Orion (2002) is one of her most performed works. Orion as a celestial phenomenon is showcased in the middle movement, Winter Sky. In 2013, Saariaho rescored this movement for a smaller orchestra, and to distinguish it from the original she gave it a title in French with the same meaning, Ciel d’hiver. It joins the series of works by Saariaho that are in one way or another inspired by things in sky and space. Trans for harp and orchestra is the composer’s latest addition to a series of concertos. It was written to a joint commission from the Suntory Foundation for Arts, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Tonhalle Orchestra in Zurich, Radio France and the Hessen Radio Orchestra. The premiere was given by Xavier de Maistre in Tokyo in August 2016.

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Saariaho: True Fire, Trans & Cier d'hiver / Lintu, Finnish Symphony Orchestra

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CD

Ondine

May 10, 2019

ODE 1309-2

Sebastian Fagerlund: Drifts, Stonework & Guitar Concerto "Tr

BIS

Available as SACD

$21.99

Mar 02, 2018

Sebastian Fagerlund has been described as ‘a composer who commandingly bridges tradition and modernity’ (Klassik-Heute.de) while his music is ‘modern and unorthodox, opulent and strange, masterfully composed and orchestrated’ (MusicWeb-International). Previous acclaimed recordings on BIS include the chamber opera Döbeln, as well as orchestral works and concertos for clarinet, violin and bassoon respectively. Another concertante work froms part of the present programme: Transit for guitar and orchestra, written for Ismo Eskelinen who also performs it here. He is partnered by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Hannu Lintu who have previously championed Fagerlund’s music: the orchestra has commissioned several works, including the guitar concerto as well as Drifts, the opening work here. The release takes its title from the third composition, Stonework, named after those man-made stone structures that are found all over the world, serving a range of purposes, from landmarks and navigational aids to burial monuments.

Sebastian Fagerlund: Drifts, Stonework & Guitar Concerto "Tr

$21.99
SACD

BIS

Mar 02, 2018

BIS-2295

Hameenniemi: Violin Concerto / H. Segerstam, Saraste, FRSO

Ondine

Available as CD

$19.99

Dec 24, 2008

Hameenniemi, E.: Violin Concerto / Symphonies Nos. 1 and 2

Hameenniemi: Violin Concerto / H. Segerstam, Saraste, FRSO

$19.99
CD

Ondine

Dec 24, 2008

ODE835

Pingoud: Symphonic Poems / Oramo, Finnish RSO

Ondine

Available as CD

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Sep 16, 2008

Ernest Pingoud (1887-1942) is one of those names one encounters in footnotes, or in the more comprehensive musical dictionaries. The Gramophone Database contains no entry for him other than this worthy new disc, and I am not aware of any previous recordings of his music, even from Finland (to where he emigrated from Russia in 1918). In his day, he was considered one of Finland’s leading modernists, with Vaino Rautio and Aarre Merikanto, so consequently had to endure sustained indifference. He eventually threw himself under a train.

His style as exhibited in these five tone-poems (only Fetich, 1917, and Le chant de l’espace – “The song of space”, 1931-8 – really live up to the “symphonic poem” billing; the others are too small in scale) is frankly not particularly distinctive, and can be summed up as a mish-mash of Strauss and Scriabin orchestrated by Prokofiev. Resonances of other composers abound, not least of Russian contemporaries but also Finns such as Melartin in Le prophete (1921) and Fetich, and early Sibelius in Flambeaux eteints (“Extinguished torches”, 1919). Fetich is by some way the best of them, skittish and excitable by turns but compelling overall, unlike Le chant de l’espace which is overblown and structurally flaccid. Le prophete, Chantecler (1919) and the rather engaging Flambeaux eteints lie variously in between. Sakari Oramo produces exemplary performances, faithfully recorded. One for the specialists.

-- Gramophone [2/1998]

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Pingoud: Symphonic Poems / Oramo, Finnish RSO

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CD

Ondine

Sep 16, 2008

ODE875

Kaija Saariaho: D'om Le Vrai Sens; Laterna Magica

Ondine

Available as CD

$18.99

Sep 27, 2011

SAARIAHO Clarinet Concerto, “D’Om le vrai sens.” Laterna Magica. Leino Songs • Sakari Oramo, cond; Finnish RSO; Kari Kriikku, (cl); Anu Komsi (s) • ONDINE 1173-2 (67:31 Text and Translation)

Over the years my admiration for Kaija Saariaho (b. 1952) has only grown. From early in her career she’s had an identifiable voice, one that comes from the intersection of a certain Nordic directness with a very French taste for refinement of timbre and texture (she’s Finnish, but worked at IRCAM and has lived for decades in Paris). The result is music that pleases on multiple levels: It’s highly lyrical, explores new sonorities with experimental rigor, and is never afraid of sensuality.

The three works on this program (basically hot off the press) all partake of the above-described aesthetic. The Clarinet Concerto (2010) is a suite of six movements inspired by the famous medieval “Unicorn” tapestries at the Cluny Museum in Paris, which in turn represent the senses (the final movement evokes a culminatory “sixth sense”). It’s truly haunting, in that the clarinet often uses noise and multiphonics (though always scrupulously) to suggest a sort of ghost-like keening and shrieking. Saariaho is very much in the spectralist school, which develops its harmonic practice from precise analysis of sounds in their microscopic realm, and from their correspondence to the overtone series. As a result, even her most dissonant sound masses have a spaciousness that always sounds natural and open, and that’s the case throughout this piece.

Laterna Magica (2008) is a tone poem evoking the life and work of film director Ingmar Bergman, though it never falls into any film-music cliché. It has an interesting dialectic between rich clouds of sound and more rhythmically pulsating textures (film threading through a projector’s sprockets?), and a passage where the orchestral players whisper various words (in German) relating to light is particularly striking. It falls a little more into what feel to me certain standard gestures and sonorities of this style and era, but it remains consistently appealing and mysterious. And the 2007 Leino Songs are four settings from one of Finland’s greatest poets, Eino Leino (1878–1926). This is technically the most conservative work, in that the voice is used for a traditionally beautiful melody; the instruments provide an aura about it that sometimes is more distorted, but never at the expense of the vocal line’s beauty. All this is not a surprise, since the composer has established one of the few successful track records for innovative and beautiful opera.

All these are exceptional performances, but by now would we expect less from anything coming out of Finland, perhaps the world’s most advanced musical culture (at least for what we call “classical”)? If you’ve not heard Saariaho before, this is an excellent introduction.

FANFARE: Robert Carl

-------

Susanna Välimäki’s booklet notes sum up the music of Kaija Saariaho remarkably succinctly: “Saariaho may be regarded as a philosophical composer of mysteries … her music seems to suggest an invisible yet tangible ‘other world’ that can be sensed in the translucent sonorities, echoes, overtones, harmonics, shadow tones and reflections of her music ... [It] conjures up a sense of infinite space and multimodality.” The colours of the orchestration in a work like the Clarinet Concerto are almost as elusive as the tonalities and harmonic language used, but at the same time the ear is granted access into a world which is infinitely fascinating - subsumed at times with an icy northern chill, but also irrigated by the magnetic shifting patterns of an aurora borealis.

As the subtitle suggests, the Clarinet Concerto “D’OM LE VRAI SENS” refers to the human senses, each inspired by the panels of a medieval tapestry called The Lady and the Unicorn. These physical aspects are suggested with instrumental symbolism and meditations rather than literal descriptive elements easily divined by an audience, but the atmosphere of mystic other-worldliness brings us into a state of wonder which can perhaps be interpreted as comparable with that of the medieval lay person confronted by inexplicable worlds beyond experience, expressed by an almost equally inexplicable miracle of craftsmanship in the tapestries. Kari Kriikku’s remarkable clarinet playing is a real treat in this work, sometimes imitating animal sounds, at times sounding like declamatory speech, and always filled with drama and intensity which equals that conjured by the entire orchestra.

Laterna Magica is titled after the memoirs of film director Ingmar Bergman, and refers to the earliest of image projectors, the magic lantern. This transfers into music in a series of ‘mirages in sound‘, creating spaces into which the imagination can project its own images. This again is more than a merely literal conjuring and teasing of our pictorial senses, and the mystic symbolism of passing time and the universal questions of existence are powerful elements in the score. Machine-like noises and quasi-spoken whisperings express the intangibility of images which seem real, and challenge perceptions of permanency and reality.

The Leino Songs use poems by Eino Leino, considered one of the most important of all Finnish poets. Reading the texts in the booklet, and it is immediately apparent as to why these texts would appeal to Saariaho, as their themes and content can easily be interpreted as expressing the very essence of her compositions. Beautifully sung by Anu Komsi, each song is compact, the words used directly and without distortion of the original poem. Each song creates its own world, reflecting the themes of love and violence, fragrant serenity and death.

This is a superbly produced recording from the Ondine label, which has been championing Saariaho’s music for some time now. Justly celebrated as one of the leading composers of our time, this varied and deeply fascinating programme is as good a place as any to become acquainted with her remarkable universe of expressive sonority and mystical depth. This isn’t Bach or Beethoven of course, but neither is it work which will turn you off with impenetrable intellectual challenges. The deeper you look the more you can reveal, but what you find is more often one or other revelation about yourself as much as an understanding of music which is of its very nature a kind of tuning fork held up to the harmonies and dissonances of existence.

-- Dominy Clements, MusicWeb International

Kaija Saariaho: D'om Le Vrai Sens; Laterna Magica

$18.99
CD

Ondine

Sep 27, 2011

ODE 1173-2

Respighi: Works for Orchestra / Mustonen, Oramo, FRSO

Ondine

Available as CD

$18.99

Sep 28, 2010

RESPIGHI Concerto in modo misolidio 1. Fountains of Rome • Sakari Oramo, cond; 1 Olli Mustonen (pn); Finnish RSO • ONDINE 1165 (53:53)

Sakari Oramo and his Finnish forces give us a sensitive if not outstandingly atmospheric performance of the earliest of Respighi’s Roman trilogy, the Fountains of Rome of 1916. The big moments are somewhat hampered by a lack of string power. The violins do not contribute as much as they should to the climax of the third movement (“Fontana di Trevi al meriggio”) and, unfortunately, the success of these Roman tone poems lies in balancing the weight of the fortissimos against the quiet passages of impressionistic introspection. The latter are meltingly played, with details like the distant church bells in the “Fontana di Villa Medici” perfectly balanced.

The main work on this disc is a rarity. Completed in 1925 and premiered in New York under Mengelberg, the Concerto in Mixolydian Mode is a large-scale Romantic piano concerto imbued with medieval church harmonies. Much of the first movement sounds like an extended fantasia on Debussy’s Engulfed Cathedral , beginning as it does with a chorale in full chords stated by the soloist. (The theme is based on the traditional introit for the Mass of Ascension Day.) The mixolydian mode is close to the major scale—only a flattened seventh differentiates them—and the piano’s first entry avoids that note, sounding for all intents and purposes to be in a major key. Gradually, modal harmony creeps in as the composer’s evocation of an earlier era is established.

Respighi’s concept of medieval times was, let us say, the polar opposite of Pasolini’s bawdy, earthbound vision; the composer envisaged the period as one of grandeur and ecclesiastical solemnity. These are the overriding characteristics of the lengthy first and second movements, which work their way through a number of musical episodes at an unhurried pace. In the second movement, the piano part becomes increasingly decorative, adding a glittering veneer to the basically sedate proceedings. Momentum is finally achieved in the passacaglia finale, but for all their lushness and lyricism it is probably the lack of impetus in the first two movements (totaling 27 minutes) that keeps Respighi’s concerto out of the repertoire. His Concerto Gregoriano for violin and orchestra of 1922, similarly based on ancient church modes, is more successful, though it too has its longeurs, while his 25-minute Toccata for piano and orchestra (1928)—another piano concerto in all but name—is saved by its spectacular final movement.

I have no wish to write this work off, however. There is a case to be made for it, and these musicians make that case convincingly. Olli Mustonen plays with uncharacteristic legato . Listen to his limpid interpretation of the first movement’s closing solo (around 15:30); this is certainly not the pianist who pecks his way through Beethoven. His lightness of touch in the passagework of the finale is a delight. This is very much a concerto where soloist and orchestra work as a partnership, and under Oramo the Finnish RSO contributes strong and often subtle support. The sound is clear and vivid. Previous recordings by Tozer and Scherbakov have been praised, but I cannot imagine them being superior in any way to this one. Recommended as a disc that could easily grow on you.

FANFARE: Phillip Scott

Respighi was proud of his Concerto in modo misolidio, and rightly so. It's a beautiful work, full of attractive melodies and effective writing for the soloist, and it deserves more exposure on the concert stage than it gets. This is hands down the best performance it has received thus far on disc. It's so typical that Mustonen (rather like Leopold Stokowski), who can be so perverse in his performances of the standard repertoire, offers such a faithful rendering of the piano part when confronted with a novelty item. This isn't to suggest that his performance lacks imagination or spirit: just the opposite. However, Respighi gives the soloist so much to do (much of the part is written on three staves) that there's certainly less room to fool around gratuitously, and so Mustonen doesn't.

The main competition in this work comes from Tozer/Downes on Chandos, a good performance that nonetheless sounds more than a touch stodgy next to this one. It takes some five minutes longer, almost all of it the central slow movement and concluding passacaglia. Mustonen and Sakari Oramo's extra energy in these movements pays huge dividends, effectively belying any view of the work as pretty but formally ungainly and lacking excitement. This is certainly the version to choose to get to know the concerto, particularly if you're coming to it for the very first time.

Only the coupling prevents this disc from getting the very highest rating. Actually, this is an excellent performance of Fountains of Rome, very well played, and glitteringly captured by the engineers. But there are many such, and it's a skimpy disc-mate, bringing total playing time only to 53 minutes. It would have been so much nicer to have some more neglected Respighi--my vote would have gone to a new version of Metamorphoseon, which shares a similar aesthetic to that of the piano concerto, or perhaps even the similarly modal Concerto gregoriano for violin. Still, as the finest version available of the main item, this disc will be self-recommending to Respighi fans (and piano buffs too).

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

Respighi: Works for Orchestra / Mustonen, Oramo, FRSO

$18.99
CD

Ondine

Sep 28, 2010

ODE 1165-2

Ligeti: Violin Concerto; Lontano; Atmospheres / Schmid, Lintu, Finnish RSO

Ondine

Available as CD

~~$18.99~~ $14.99

Sep 24, 2013

Ligeti's works on this disc provide an excellent cross-section of the metamorphosis in his compositional technique over a period of 30 years. The Violin Concerto incorporates influences from Medieval and Renaissance music, from late Romantic music and various contemporary styles.

REVIEWS:

Lintu’s Lontano shimmers with ever-shifting colours, he highlights the awe-inspiring grandeur of Atmosphères, and his gorgeously shaped San Francisco Polyphony is vibrant and lyrical—all matched by Ondine’s rich, warm, detailed recording. And Lintu’s vision has the ideal Violin Concerto soloist in Benjamin Schmid, who manages to make Ligeti’s strange, mischievous writing sound sweetly expressive, even touching. His clear sense of line leads the ear effortlessly through the second movement’s eerie microtonal textures, complete with natural horns and ocarinas, and he has superb articulation and rhythmic bite in the tricksy opening movement.

-- The Strad

The selections on this disc are as good a place as any for the newcomer to this composer to get an appreciation for what is so exciting about Ligeti’s way of expressing himself in music. Schmid[’s]…is a committed performance…Lintu and a reduced Finnish Radio Symphony accompany very well and the sound allows much wonderful detail to come through. The performances…are all worthy in their own right. The programme on this CD would seem to be an ideal place to obtain a good sampling of Ligeti’s music.

-- MusicWeb International

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Ligeti: Violin Concerto; Lontano; Atmospheres / Schmid, Lintu, Finnish RSO

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CD

Ondine

Sep 24, 2013

ODE 1213-2

CONCERTO FOR ORCHESTRA, ROMANI

WARNER CLASSICS

Available as CD

~~$18.99~~ $9.49

Mar 01, 2005

CONCERTO FOR ORCHESTRA, ROMANI

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CONCERTO FOR ORCHESTRA, ROMANI

~~$18.99~~ $9.49
CD

WARNER CLASSICS

Mar 01, 2005

2564619472

Darkness In Light

BIS

Available as SACD

$21.99

Apr 14, 2015

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.

The style in which the Finnish composer Sebastian Fagerlund composes might be described as ‘magic realism’, combining elements of surrealism with factual narrative. Drawing upon the symphony orchestra’s full spectrum of colours, the music reflects not only the traditions of impressionism, modernism and post-minimalism but also reveals the composer’s acute ear for other genres, from cool jazz to ambient music. An earlier recording of orchestral works by Fagerlund was described by the enthusiastic reveiwer in BBC Music Magazine as displaying 'boundless technical resource at the service of a considerable imagination'. These qualities, and his receptivity towards different musical traditions Fagerlund shares with Pekka Kuusisto, to whom the violin concerto Darkness in Light is dedicated. The title of the work is a subtle reference to a quote from author Haruki Murakami’s novella Firefly: ‘Death is not the opposite of life, but a part of it’, and illustrates how the music transcends distinctions: darkness and light, tonality and atonality, orchestra and soloist, destruction and renewal – there cannot be one without the other. The disc closes with the orchestral work Ignite, composed for the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra which performs it here, under its chief conductor Hannu Lintu. The work takes its name from the constant collision of ideas that ‘ignites’ new energy, but in terms of form the inspiration has been the spiral, a shape found in DNA and mussel shells as well as in whirlwinds and the structure of galaxies. With a duration of 30 minutes, the work is organized in four movements separated by brief interludes – all of which are played without interruption.

Darkness In Light

$21.99
SACD

BIS

Apr 14, 2015

BIS-2093

Mahler: Symphony No. 1 & Blumine / Lintu, FRSO

Ondine

Available as SACD

~~$18.99~~ $14.99

Nov 13, 2015

The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Hannu Lintu presents Mahler’s Symphony Nr. 1 with the original 2nd movement Blumine restored which Mahler excised after a few performances of the symphony. To this day, there is much discussion of Mahler’s decision to drop this lovely movement with many theories attached to the discussion. Nonetheless this recording performs a valuable cultural service with its inclusion, especially in the hands of the very capable FRSO.

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Mahler: Symphony No. 1 & Blumine / Lintu, FRSO

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SACD

Ondine

Nov 13, 2015

ODE 1264-5

Haapanen: Flute Concerto; Ladies' Room; Compulsion / FRSO

Ondine

Available as CD

~~$18.99~~ $9.49

Nov 01, 2019

This new album by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra focuses on works by Perttu Haapanen (b. 1972), one of the most important and interesting Finnish composers of his generation. It includes a recently-written Flute Concerto with Yuki Koyama as soloist and conducted by Dima Slobodeniouk, and two other works conducted by Hannu Lintu: a song-cycle written for soprano Helena Juntunen and an orchestral work, Compulsion Island, written for the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Compulsion Island was written to a commission from the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and makes full use of the resources of a full-sized symphony orchestra. Haapanen creates a multi-layered and richly sonorous texture where extended instrument techniques play a significant and carefully considered role. Quiet, stagnant and expectant yet tense moments alternate with charged and punchy rhythmical passages that increase in force until the final culmination, followed by a subsiding, dreamlike and unreal epilogue. The Flute Concerto lasts about 25 minutes and is in a single movement divided into two halves featuring different materials, according to the composer. At the surface level, it comes across as a flexible and elastic structure consisting of several short sections in rapid succession, with contrasting moods either alternating or superimposed. The palette of sonorities is rich, augmented by extended instrument techniques and a number of rare sound sources such as a typewriter producing crisp rhythms and the absurd sounds of wheezing toys. Ladies’ Room for soprano and chamber orchestra was written to a commission from the Musica nova Helsinki festival. Originally written and premiered in 2007 by Helena Juntunen, it was revised by Haapanen in the following year. The texts come from a wide variety of sources: poems by conductor and mezzosoprano Jutta Seppinen, the Bible, Google, the archives of Scotland Yard and Paul Celan. Between them are four nonsense text settings that pay homage to Adolf Wolfli, an early 20th-century Swiss artist. The soprano part is highly demanding due to its wide range of vocal techniques which make Ladies’ Room a vocal virtuoso work where the virtuoso component is an integral part of the content.

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Haapanen: Flute Concerto; Ladies' Room; Compulsion / FRSO

~~$18.99~~ $9.49
CD

Ondine

Nov 01, 2019

ODE 1307-2

Lindberg: Music for Orchestra / Power, Collon, FRSO

Ondine

Available as CD

~~$18.99~~ $14.99

Sep 06, 2024

This new album by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and its chief conductor Nicholas Collon features some of the most recent orchestral compositions by Magnus Lindberg culminating with his new Viola Concerto, a substantial new work masterfully performed by Lawrence Power as soloist.

Composer Magnus Lindberg (b. 1958) is one of Europe's leading names in contemporary music. Having traveled a long road as a composer, from the steely and edgy modernism of his early period to the soft and sonorous sound worlds of his most recent output, Lindberg's new, more emollient sound world building on a harmonic environment rooted in pentatonic scales at times seem to hark back even to Debussy and Impressionism.

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Lindberg: Music for Orchestra / Power, Collon, FRSO

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CD

Ondine

Sep 06, 2024

ODE 1436-2

Adès: Märchentänze & Other World Premieres / Kuusisto, Nuñez, Collon, Finnish RSO

Ondine

Available as CD

~~$18.99~~ $14.99

Oct 07, 2022

In the Autumn of 2021, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra together with its new chief conductor, Nicholas Collon, arranged a Thomas Adès festival in Helsinki devoted to the world famous composer’s music in addition to works by other composers chosen and conducted by Thomas Adès (b. 1971). One of the highlights of the festival’s program was the world première of Märchentänze in its version for violin and orchestra performed by violinist Pekka Kuusisto, Adès’ long-time artistic partner. This new album by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra includes four recent and exciting orchestral works written by the composer between 2016 and 2021 in world première recordings.

In addition to the Märchentänze, this album includes Adès’ orchestral Hotel Suite from Powder Her Face, an adaptation based on the music from the opera through which Adès first made a widespread name for himself in the mid-1990s. The orchestral version of Lieux retrouvés, originally written for Steven Isserlis, could be described as a cello concerto in the spirit of Marcel Proust. Orchestral work Dawn was written for the 2020 London Proms for ‘orchestra at any distance’, due to the coronavirus pandemic. Adès’ Dawn comes across as timeless music floating in a serene universe of beauty all its own.

REVIEW:

These performances by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (FRSO) under their current Chief Conductor, British-born-and-trained Nicholas Collon (b. 1983) are magnificent and bring out all the subtle colorations in these superbly scored works. That said, Finnish violinist Pekka Kuusisto gets a big hand for his superb playing in Märchentänze [T-10 thru 13]. And the same goes for Finnish cellist Tomas Nuñez in Lieux retrouvés [T-6 thru 9].

The recordings were made in October 2021 (Hotel… & Lieux…) and April-May 2022 (Märchentänze & Dawn) in the Helsinki Music Center’s Concert Hall. They present consistently generous, dynamically wide-ranging sonic images with both soloists centered, well captured and effectively highlighted. As for the orchestral timbre, it’s characterized by titillating highs, a pleasant midrange and clean bass. While these recordings are good on headphones, this colorfully scored music is even better over a good home theater system.

-- Classical Lost and Found (Bob McQuiston)

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Adès: Märchentänze & Other World Premieres / Kuusisto, Nuñez, Collon, Finnish RSO

~~$18.99~~ $14.99
CD

Ondine

Oct 07, 2022

ODE 1411-2

Richard Strauss: Eine Alpensinfonie & Vier Lieder, Op. 27

Ondine

Available as CD

$16.99

Nov 21, 2025

- Series of award-winning recordings by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and conductor Nicholas Collon continue with a new album of orchestral works by Richard Strauss (1864-1949). This release includes Strauss' longest and final major orchestral work, the Alpine Symphony together with Four Songs, Op. 27 sung by soprano Louise Alder, one of the most in demand singers today.

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Richard Strauss: Eine Alpensinfonie & Vier Lieder, Op. 27

$16.99
CD

Ondine

Nov 21, 2025

ODE 1479-2

Sibelius: Symphony No. 5; Two Serenades; Two Serious Melodie

Ondine

Available as CD

$18.99

Jun 06, 2025

Conductor Nicholas Collon's second Sibelius album together with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra focuses on works written by Sibelius just before World War I, and culminating in the 5th Symphony, one of the composer's symphonic key works. Two opuses for violin and orchestra, Two Serenades and Two Serious Melodies, one of Sibelius' most religious works, are featuring star violinist Christian Tetzlaff. Sibelius' music for Strindberg's Symbolistic play Swanwhite is a rarely performed gem with interesting thematic connections to other works included on this album, including the 5th Symphony.

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Sibelius: Symphony No. 5; Two Serenades; Two Serious Melodie

$18.99
CD

Ondine

Jun 06, 2025

ODE 1468-2

Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius

Ondine

Available as CD

~~$24.99~~ $18.99

Feb 07, 2025

This is the best of me wrote Edward Elgar in 1900 at the end of the manuscript of The Dream of Gerontius. This impressive and modern new recording of Elgar's magnum opus by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and conductor Nicholas Collon features alongside mezzo-soprano Christine Rice, tenor John Findon and baritone Roderick Williams, singers from five different choirs: Helsinki Music Centre Choir, Cambridge University Symphony Chorus, Dominante, Helsinki Chamber Choir and Alumni of the Choir of Clare College Cambridge.

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Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius

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CD

Ondine

Feb 07, 2025

ODE 1451-2D

Rautavaara: Cantus Arcticus / Pommer, Leipzig Radio Symphony

Catalyst

Available as CD

$17.99

Jul 16, 2012

One of the more fascinating issues in RCA/BMG's Catalyst series is a disc devoted to Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara (b. 1928). After studies with leading native composers, Rautavaara was selected by 90-year old Sibelius as the winner of a scholarhip from the Koussevitzky Foundation to study in the U.S. Listening to Rautavaara's music one would never suspect that he studied with Vincent Persichetti and Roger Sessions at Juilliard, and with Aaron Copland at Tanglewood. He has written several operas, chamber music, seven symphonies, and many works for solo voices and chorus.

The featured music on this CD is Cantus Arcticus, written in 1972. This strange 17-minute work is called "Concerto for Birds and Orchestra," combining the recorded sounds of wild birds with the sound of a symphony orchestra. It is an oddly haunting work of quiet, evocative power, with a dark mystic quality that suggests the bleak Nordic climate. There are three sections: The Bog, Melancholy, and Swans Migrating. It is a fascinating score; the pre-recorded sounds of birds are compelling listening, which cannot be said of the other two works on this CD, the String Quartet No. 4, composed in 1975, a three-movement, meditative 22-minute work in which Rautavaara on purpose has limited the scope of the music. Not much happens here to stimulate the listener in spite of the fine performance by the Sirius Quartet, but a lot happens in the other work, Symphony No. 5, written in 1986, a 31-minute, one-movement symphony with enormous percussive, dissonant climaxes disturbing the over-all bleak aural picture. For this listener, it lacks an overall focus that would merit repeated listening. The two orchestral works are beautifully played by the Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra directed by Max Pommer. The recordings were licensed from the Finnish label, Ondine, and sound just as good on RCA/BMG. The prime interest here is Cantus Articus; the CD is worth having just for that strange, mystic work.

-- Robert Benson, Classicalcdreview.com

Rautavaara: Cantus Arcticus / Pommer, Leipzig Radio Symphony

$17.99
CD

Catalyst

Jul 16, 2012

CAT62671

Kokkonen: Symphonies 1 & 2 / Oramo, Finnish RSO

Ondine

Available as CD

~~$18.99~~ $14.99

Jan 06, 2005

Joonas Kokkonen is considered "Finland's most significant composer after Sibelius" (American Record Guide). However, he still awaits discovery among many lovers of accessible contemporary music. Sakari Oramo and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, unrivaled champions of Finnish late 20th-century music, have taken up this task with a complete Kokkonen symphonies cycle: The benchmark first volume (ODE 1098-2) was unanimously hailed by the press as a "must-have disc". On this new release, they perform the first two symphonies, coupled with Opus sonorum for orchestra. Written in the years following Sibelius's death in 1957, these masterpieces reveal Kokkonen's affinity with the music of J.S. Bach and his full exploration of expressive tonal colors.

"...Both are tautly argued works, compressing four movements into 20-minute spans that Sakari Oramo plots with precision. After completing the anguished Second Symphony in 1961, Kokkonen developed a more expressive, almost neoromantic style. The seeds of that can be heard in Opus Sonorum from 1964, which is symphonic in outline if not in its nine-minute scale, and uses the musical letters of Jean Sibelius's name as one of its motifs." - Andrew Clements, The Guardian, London, 2009

"For Finnish conductor, Sakari Oramo, a man with a yen for reviving neglected composers, Joonas Kokkonen is an important figure. He's the 'missing link' between the great Jean Sibelius and a new generation of Finnish composers such as Magnus Lindberg." -- Ivan Hewett, The Daily Telegraph, February 11, 2009

On Sale

Kokkonen: Symphonies 1 & 2 / Oramo, Finnish RSO

~~$18.99~~ $14.99
CD

Ondine

Jan 06, 2005

ODE 1129-2

Piano Concerto No. 1

Kontrapunkt

Available as CD

$22.99

Mar 15, 1994

Finnish conductor Leif Segerstam who is celebrating his 50th birthday on March 2, 1994 has been a prolific composer as well. This “birthday” CD concentrates on his compositional vintage 1977. The three orchestral works here bear the unmistakable Segerstam characteristics of freedom from the restrictive formal system, which he calls “free pulsative style”. Segerstam’s wife Hannel who is the leader of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra plays violin solo on the Concertino-Fantasia. Soloist on the Piano Concerto, Rainer Keusching is the pianist of the Wiener Philharmoniker who also performs regularly with Berliner Philharmoniker, Wiener Symphonics, Chamber Orchestra of Europe just to name a few.

Piano Concerto No. 1

$22.99
CD

Kontrapunkt

Mar 15, 1994

KON 32184