This new album by Lapland Chamber Orchestra conducted by John Storgårds is dedicated to works by one of the most exciting Finnish composers of her generation, Outi Tarkiainen (b. 1985). This album, first of its kind with Tarkiainen’s orchestral works, includes two works with mezzo-soprano Virpi Räisänen and saxophonist Jukka Perko as soloists. Tarkiainen has quickly risen to Finland’s contemporary music scene and her works have already been performed by the BBC Philharmonic (an orchestral work by her was premiered at the BBC Proms in 2019) and by several North American and Nordic symphony orchestras, including the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Iceland Symphony Orchestra and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Tarkiainen has written several works that are strongly connected to the Northern landscape of Lapland and the culture of its Sámi habitants. The song cycle The Earth, Spring’s Daughter is based on texts by Sámi writers and also her saxophone concerto Saivo, is based on Sámi mythology.

REVIEW:

One of Finland’s major composers, Tarkiainen's sizeable Earth, Spring’s Daughter (2014) holds out a view of the way mankind took over planet earth, the story told in a Prologue and Epilogue - which uses the same material — separated by seven songs. Its style could be described as a ‘modern version of tonality’ that will fall agreeably on the ears of those versed in today’s musical world. The mezzo soloist, Virpi Raisanen, meets the music’s many demands and the spoken narrative well.

Composed in 2016, the concerto Saivo has a character much akin to the earlier score. Finnish saxophonist Jukka Perko, a musician best known in the jazz world, and for whom the work was written, coaxes out of his soprano sax horn a wide range of sounds, from smooth to the abrasive.

The Lapland orchestra, and their artistic director, John Storgards, are forceful advocates, while the recorded sound is superb.

– David's Review Corner (David Denton)