Finnish pianist, Marita Viitasalo is known for her accompaniment with lied singers which requires skills and sensibilities that are distinctly different than those of a soloist or chamber musician. These Debussy Préludes indeed suggest not only her tremendous pianistic facility but her ability to listen in between the notes, a critical need for lied accompanists.

Violinist Benjamin Schmid’s third Ondine release contains well-known piano pieces by Shostakovich and Prokofiev in fresh arrangements for violin and piano. Also included is a suite transcribed from Kurt Weill’s ‘The Threepenny Opera’. All three original works were written during the 1910s and 1920s. Known for his exceptionally wide repertoire and a great sense of musicality Benjamin Schmid has been described as “…one of the most valuable of today’s golden-age-violinists.” (The New York Sun)
Pianist Lisa Smirnova has been collaborating with Mr. Schmid extensively for almost 20 years.

Vocal Recital: Hynninen, Jorma / Ruuttunen, Esa / Tiilikaine

Children (Classical Favourites for) - Teddy Bear at the Conc

This recording includes a fascinating program: Luciano Berio's iconic adaptation of Johannes Brahms' Clarinet Sonata No. 1 combined with Detlev Glanert's recent arrangement of Brahms' late vocal masterpiece, Four Serious Songs. Also included is Glanert's new orchestral work Weites Land written in the spirit of Brahms. This disc includes as its soloists award-winning clarinetist Kari Kriikku and German baritone Michael Nagy. This is the second release of Estonian conductor Olari Elts together with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. Detlev Glanert was, like Brahms, born in Hamburg. A pupil of Diether de la Motte and Hans Werner Henze, Glanert has long felt a deep connection with Brahms' music through "a specific North German tradition, in which I believe myself to be connected with Brahms, to do with a melancholy in his pieces, with a certain severity." Luciano Berio was commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra in 1986 to provide an orchestral version of the first of the two late sonatas Brahms composed in 1894, two years prior to the Serious Songs. Berio created a 25-minute concerto, although retaining the designation "Sonata". Berio's treatment of Brahms' was highly respectful and straightforward and the solo part is almost identical with the origina lsonata.

SOUL OF KANTELE

NATIONAL TREASURES - FINLAND,

SEGERSTAM: SYMS NOS 21 & 23

Vivaldi, A.: Four Seasons (The) / Violin Concerto in A Minor

Track Listing

1 I Heard the Voice - Menaiset

2 Huntiing the Devil's Elk - Heikki Laitinen

3 Love's Poison Kills All Sorrows - Von & Af

4 Tellu's Polska - Tellu

5 Calling the Cows - Meri Tiitola

6 The Origin of Fire - Tiina Kaaresvirta/Petri Korpela

7 O Christ, King of Glory - Tallari

8 Heikki's Polska - Heikki Laitinen/Erik Siikasaari

9 Meri's Polska - Meri Tiitola

10 One Night in the Summer I Did Wander - Sanna Kurki-Suonio

11 The Bride's Weeping - Me Naiset

12 O Mother - Pia Rask

13 Lucky Lad - Heikki Laitinen

14 I Sat on Thy Bed - Sirkka Mostrom

15 Why Are You Sad? - Marianne Maans

16 A Seamen Enjoys Little Esteem - Marianne Maans

17 Yonder My Sweetheart - Tellu

18 In the Still of the Evening - Von & Af

19 Lully My Baby - Sanna Kurki-Suonio

Far from the traditional image of Russian music as a stately exercise in pomp comes this excellent recording of RUSSIAN ADAGIOS. Like its name implies, this disc contains slow movements of Russian composers, from the theatrical as well as symphonic repertoire. Under Russian conductor Yevgeny Svetlanov, these pieces shine with depth and lyricism. Particularly beautiful and sublime are the "Petit Adagio" from Alexander Glazunov's ballet 'The Seasons' which connects with emotions that bridge style periods, and the Adagio from Prokofiev's 'Cinderella' which highlights the brilliance of Russian 20th-century composition which broke from the official mold. Finally, there is the "Pas D'Action" from'Sleeping Beauty' of Tchaikovsky which never fails in its melodic wonder. This is a recording that gets at the heart of Russian music, which is worth the exploration.

Aulis Sallinen (1935) is one of the internationally most well-known Finnish opera composers. At home with large scale works, his Kullervo opera is considered by many his greatest achievement in the field of opera. This re-issue, recorded in 1991 prior to its 1992 world-premiere performance, includes a truly stellar cast of Finnish opera singers with Jorma Hynninen singing the title role of Kullervo. Other singers in prominent roles include Eeva-Liisa Saarinen, Matti Salminen and Jorma Silvasti.

Includes aria(s) by Giuseppe Verdi, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ruggero Leoncavallo. Soloist: Jorma Hynninen.
Includes song(s) by Jean Sibelius, Leevi Madetoja, Yrjö Kilpinen, Toivo Kuula, ? Larjalainen, Aulis Sallinen. Soloist: Jorma Hynninen.

This double-CD release is the third volume in the young Finnish pianist Paavali Jumppanen’s ongoing recording cycle of the Beethoven piano sonatas. This release includes Piano Sonatas Nos. 9–15 and 19 & 20, among them perhaps Beethoven’s most recognizable piano composition, the “Moonlight” Sonata. Widely lauded for the breadth of his repertoire that ranges from Baroque to the avant-garde, Jumppanen has spent several years focusing on the repertoire of the Viennese Classics, in particular Beethoven. His performances of the complete cycles of Beethoven's and Mozart's Piano Sonatas as well as Beethoven's concertos and chamber music have won critical acclaim. He was also specifically commissioned by Pierre Boulez to be the instrumentalist for the commemorative Boulez retrospective box set recently releases

1. Le Bicot (Argentinian polka) 2:51
2. Notturno 1:56
3. Napolilainen serenadi (Neapolitan Serenade) 3:30
4. La Paloma 3:12
5. Polkka (Polka - Les Vendredis) 5:05
6. Chanson triste 3:17
7. Ken kaihon tuntee (None but the longing heart) 3:25
8. Syncopation 1:44
9. Allegretto vivo e scherzando 3:57
10. Affenliebe (Down in Jungle Town) 3:52
11. Tambourin Chinois 4:08
12. Poème 2:30
13. Pouppée Valsante 2:54
14. Cavatine 4:22
15. Des Negers Traum 7:52
16. Melodie-Elegie 2:30
17. Serenata 3:43
18. Valssi menneiltä ajoilta (Waltz from days gone by) 3:10

[ 65:24 ]

Kerava Quartet
Teppo Koivisto, piano
Jorma Härkönen, double bass