Includes work(s) by Nikos Skalkottas. Ensemble: New Hellenic Quartet.

n her own liner notes to this disc, Sally Beamish writes that it 'represents the beginning of my journey into orchestral music'. Symphony No.1, from 1992, is in fact the very first work Beamish composed for large orchestra, for a commission she describes as 'the most extraordinary gift, and a terrifying undertaking: I was journeying into the unknown, which is reflected in some unusual choices in instrumentation - very low timpani writing, for instance, like footsteps on a wooden floor.' The piece combines elements of the traditional music of the Scottish bagpipe with an instrumental 'setting' of Psalm 104, praising the majesty of creation. In Beamish's own words the symphony represents 'a celebration of the beauty of Scotland, and the inspiration, both musical and visual, which I have found here.' Two years later Beamish was commissioned to write a concerto for the violinist Anthony Marwood, and from him received a copy of the novel All Quiet on the Western Front. The three movements of the concerto can be traced to three particular passages in the book, and are influenced by the composer's 'deep-rooted sense of the futility and tragedy of war'. The flute concerto 'Callisto' is a later work, from 2005, which on the present recording is also performed by the soloist it was composed for, Sharon Bezaly. Having been inspired by a retelling of the myth from Ovid's Metamorphoses, Beamish describes the work as 'a mini-opera, with the leading roles - Jove, Diana, the nymph Callisto - taken by various instruments'. In the course of the work, the soloist is required to play all four members of the flute family: from bass flute to piccolo. This is the sixth disc on BIS dedicated to the music of Sally Beamish, music which in reviews of previous recordings has been described as 'personal and sensual' (in the German magazine Fono Forum), 'beautiful ... colourfully orchestrated and full of poetic moments' (in American Record Guide), and 'striking compositions [which] combine lyricism and drama with clarity of form' (in Gramophone). (Please note: the recording of Callisto included here was first released in October 2008 on 'Spellbound' BIS-CD-1649, a disc of flute concertos.)

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

Stavanger Symphony Orchestra and conductor Christian Eggen continue the survey of their compatriot Fartein Valen's orchestral music with a programme spanning the years 1932-1946. Valen had by then already established his distinctive tonal language, an atonal counterpoint based on his studies of Bach with inspiration from Schoenberg and from Alban Berg. The three single-movement orchestral pieces recorded here were written in the space of just over a year, and all have titles that are rich in extra-musical associations. They are not, however, examples of romantic programme music: the titles reflect the underlying inspiration rather than the content of the works. Nenia, from the Latin, is a lament - or 'funeral march' as Valen termed it - inspired by the expressive Roman marble figure known as the 'Dying Gaul'. For An die Hoffnung it was the poem 'To Hope' by John Keats which provided the creative impetus, and it is known that Valen owned a copy of Edmund Spenser's Epithalamion from 1595, as he was composing the work which he intended as a wedding gift to his nephew. These shorter works may be seen as preliminary studies for Valen's symphonies, of which No.2 and No.3 were composed from 1941 to 1946. During this time - which more or less coincides with the German occupation of Norway - Valen led a reclusive life on the family farm, spending his time composing and tending his beloved rose garden. As a symphonist, Valen was not interested in the traditional symphonic development but he did want to preserve the character of the extended lines with long spans through polyphony. To quote the liner notes by Valen specialist Arvid Vollsnes, 'many of the movements are like gigantic fugues. They have a dynamic, rather than an architectural form even though we encounter sonata form, Lied form and rondos.'.

Miklós Spányi's latest volume in his series of the Keyboard Concertos of C.P.E. Bach is the 16th of an estimated total of 19, and we are thus reaching the end of a series which according to a reviewer on the German website Klassik Heute has earned 'a rightful place in the history of recorded music as an epoch-making achivement'. On the present disc we are treated to three works which illustrate the various responses of the composer to the changes that occurred in the musical establishment in the mid-18th century. So all is set for another exciting installment in this highly acclaimed series of 'brilliant recordings, that admits to no routine or any degree of tiredness', to quote the website klassik.com.

BRUCKNER MINNESOTA ORCHESTRA; OSMA VANSKA, CONDUCTOR. SYMPHONY NO. 4 IN E-FLAT MAJOR "ROMANTIC" (1888 VERSION).

Kalevi Aho needs little introduction to people familiar with the BIS label. He is, quite simply, the foremost Finnish composer of his generation as well as the most prolific. This is the ninth disc devoted exclusively to his music and he has contributed single works to numerous other CDs. Aho is unique among contemporary composers in his concern for the music of his immediate forebears and the first half of this disc consists of his homage to the composer Uno Klami (1900-1961). Klami's greatest work, the ballet score 'Whirls' (CD656), was unfinished when the composer died. He was intending to write the definitive Finish ballet based, as one would expect, on stories from Kalevala, the great poem of Finnish mythology that has inspired so much art in Finland. Kalevi Aho undertook to write the missing third act of this ballet so that the ballet could be performed in full and this was the origin of the 'Symphonic Dances' presented here. The second half of the disc comprises Aho's eleventh symphony. Several of Aho's previous symphonies have included a major part for a solo instrument. Here the 'solo' instrument consists of a huge battery of instruments performed by the six members of the Kroumata Percussion Ensemble! Once again Kalevi Aho displays his ability to get under the skin of an instrument and to communicate his insights in a musical language that is readily accessible.