Nordic Highlights No. 2 2023

HIGHLIGHTS

Focus on Kalevi Aho

Music for Planet Earth

NEWSLETTER FROM GEHRMANS MUSIKFÖRLAG & FENNICA GEHRMAN

Busy year for Lotta Wennäkoski

Lotta Wennäkoski’s busy year continues. e BBC Symphony Orchestra and violinist Ilya Gringolts will premiere her violin concerto Prosoidia at the Barbican on 3 November with Eva Ollikainen conducting. e Lahti and the Norrlandsoperan Symphony Orchestras are the other commissioners.

A new work for clarinet and orchestra, Ele, will receive its world premiere in Finland on 29 September with clarinettist Lauri Sallinen and the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra (co-commissioned by Musica Vitae).

Lotta is also Composer-in-Residence at the Oremansgaard chamber music festival in Denmark on 26–29 July. And last but not least: her exciting Jong for juggler and orchestra is to be performed on 4. August at the Classical Tahoe Festival, USA by Frank Olivier, juggler and the Classical Tahoe Orchestra conducted by Ruth Reinhardt.

Benjamin Staern & Side by Side

e premiere of Benjamin Staern´s A Streak of Sea (En strimma hav) for choir and orchestra will be one of the highlights when the international music camp Side by Side by El Sistema Sweden celebrates its 10-year jubilee in Gothenburg. Over 2000 young musicians and singers from the four corners of the earth, side by side with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and Vocal Ensemble will participate in the festival concerts at Scandinavium on 20 June.

Recent works by Tiina Myllärinen

Tiina Myllärinen’s exciting, large inter-art work

Pinnan alla (Bubbling Under) to a text by Henriikka Tavi will have three performances at Our Festival in Finland on 22–25 July. Scored for four singers and ve instrumentalists, this work is an acoustic maze in which people walk through di erent constructions during the performance.

Myllärinen’s string quartet (Bad) Dreams

Come True commissioned by the Uusinta Ensemble and the Sea Lapland String Quartet has been performed three times by Uusinta. After the world premiere in 2022 it was also heard at the Musica Nova festival in Helsinki and the Oberstdorf International Festival Forum of contemporary music in Germany during this spring.

Valfridsson residency

Jonas Valfridsson will be composer-in-residence with the Jönköping Sinfonietta for the 2023/24 season. is includes the commission of the song cycle Árit, for tenor Rickard Söderberg. Audiences will also get to hear two works inspired by the artist John Bauer´s fairy-tale paintings: the John Bauer Overture and the monumental John Bauer Suite 1918 for choir and orchestra, as well as other works by Valfridsson.

On the occasion of author Stig Dagerman´s centenary celebration this year, Jonas Valfridsson has written an extended work for reciter and orchestra on commission from the Gävle Symphony Orchestra. e work, entitled Varför älska vi att sjunka (Why do we love to sink?), is scheduled to be premiered on 5 October under the direction of Tobias Ringborg.

Damström profile composer in Korsholm

Editors: Henna Salmela, Kristina Fryklöf

Translations: Susan Sinisalo, Robert Carroll

Cover photo of Kalevi Aho by Romain Etienne

Design: Tenhelp Oy

Click the sound and video symbols in the text.

ISSN 2000-2750 (Online)

Cecilia Damström is this year´s pro le composer at the Korsholm Music Festival in Finland. During the festival, audiences can listen to her Epitaph for piano, Groove for ute and accordion, Aveo for cello, the string quartet Letters, the string trio Nisus and the string orchestra piece, Fretus. In addition, there will be a performance of Damström´s children´s opera Vickan & Väinö.

Jonas Valfridsson and the Jönköping Sinfonietta

Photo: Lars Kroon

Photo: Maarit Kytöharju

Photo: Ville Juurikkala

Lotta Wennäkoski

Tiina Myllärinen

Photo: Eeva Anundi

Cecilia Damström

Söderqvist’s Crossroads on film

Ann-So Söderqvist’s Crossroads for sixpart choir a cappella has been lmed in an innovative interpretation by the vocal ensemble VoNo. “At the crossroads our choice is clear –who are you?”, asks author Malin Hülphers. Söderqvist’s work is a tribute to the human. It

News from Fennica Gehrman

Fennica Gehrman is moving to new premises in the centre of Helsinki in June–July 2023. e move will cause some delays in deliveries as the o ce may be temporarily closed.

Jari Eskola is to take up the position of Director of the Kuopio Music Centre as of 1 August 2023, having been Publishing Manager at Fennica Gehrman since 2018. A specialist in music for winds, he has, among other things, been developing Fennica’s digital distribution. Fennica Gehrman is seeking a new Publishing Manager for its managerial team.

Antti Auvinen news

Antti Auvinen’s new Flute Concerto is to premiere at the Summer Sounds festival in Porvoo of the Avanti! Chamber Orchestra on 30 June, with Bjørnar Habbestad as the soloist. Auvinen’s previous concerto Andalusian Panzerwagen Jazz for guitar and orchestra now exists in three versions. e most recent was tailored for the Finnish Baroque Orchestra, which will be taking it on its European tour in summer 2023. Petri Kumela will be the soloist, playing a period guitar. A disc of the guitar concerto is scheduled for release in the autumn.

Anssi Karttunen will be the soloist in Auvinen’s new work for cello and video to receive its rst performance at the EstOvest Festival (Contemporary Cello Week) in Turin in October.

creates a sonorous and rhythmic fabric culminating in a tender, unison “We are mankind”. Crossroads was commissioned by Lone Larsen and VoNo for their performance “I am Like Many”.

Schnelzer’s Aksak and Ciphers

Albert Schnelzer has composed a new work, Aksak and Ciphers, on commission from O/ Modernt, RUSK Festival, Uppsala Chamber Soloists and Dalasinfoniettan. e work is based on musical ciphers from Johannes Brahms, Clara Schumann and members of Schnelzer’s own family, and is also inspired by folk music from the Balkans. It exists in three di erent versions (string sextet, string orchestra and chamber orchestra). e premiere will take place on 15 June with O/Modernt Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Hugo Ticciati. More performances are coming up in season 23/24.

Larsson Gothe commissions

Mats Larsson Gothe has just nished work on his Symphony No. 4, composed for the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, planned to be premiered in the 2024/25 season. Next on the agenda is a Cello Concerto for Torleif edéen and the Stockholm Royal Philharmonic.

On 29 August, during the Baltic Sea Festival in Stockholm, his choral piece e Pigeons will receive its rst performance by the Swedish Radio Choir under Kaspars Putnins. In August we can look forward to the release of Larsson Gothe’s string orchestra piece Lied von der Erde with the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra and leader Malin Broman on the label Alba.

Lara Poe ‘s song cycle

American Finn Lara Poe has composed a new song cycle co-commissioned by the Lahti and Oulu Symphony Orchestras. e work for mezzo-soprano and orchestra is based on poems by L. Onerva and the soloist is Virpi Räisänen. e world premiere is scheduled for 12 October 2023 in Lahti and the following week it will be heard in Oulu. Lara Poe is a young, cosmopolitan composer whose music has been receiving growing interest in recent years.

Lara Poe

Photo: Penthouse Studios

Photo: Eija Tervo

Antti Auvinen

Kalevi Aho on a new threshold

At Kalevi Aho´s composer workshop in idyllic Käpylä, a district of Helsinki, new works are born at a steadily fast pace by means of a substantial dose of intuitive imagination and rigorous routine, as well as good old-fashioned craftmanship. For Aho, the coming year will probably mean that some extra public attention is just round the corner, but he himself admits that he has never been particularly fond of jubilees.

Kalevi Aho is on a new threshold to his fourth quarter of a century: he will be 75 in March 2024. But he won´t hear of any pleasantly peaceful pensioner´s life or, for that matter, any excessive celebrating. For Aho composing is as natural as breathing, and seldom does a day go by without his writing down notes. Except, possibly, when he is travelling to attend one of his premieres. And when it comes to premieres, quite a few accumulate during just one year. Usually about ve new works – not counting minor pieces for various occasions, arrangements and adaptations – are created during an average year, and Aho has no intention of slowing down. Typically, he has commissions booked two years or so ahead, and as soon as one work is nished he immediately starts on the next.

A normal workday for Aho is generally divided into two (for the most part) working periods, one during the day and one during the evening, with for example a walk in the woods as a well-deserved breather in between. Aho is one of the last of the Mohicans not to use digital aids in his compositional work, and an explanation for his proli c productivity is that he has a decidedly intuitive manner of composing.

He never makes sketches, the score rather develops in its entirety by means of pencil and eraser, bar by bar –usually 2-4 pages in a workday – nor does he revise his works. What is written is written, and that is what it was intended to be.

In other words, a compositional craft that in our time is rare, and a working method which of course requires enormous professional skill, as well as a considerable degree of sheer routine. e dramaturgical and formal aspects are established in parallel with the sonorous, harmonic and rhythmical structures, and the instrumentation is an indispensable part of the compositional process itself.

A great day for chamber music

Needless to say, this also holds true for the Symphony No. 18, a work which Aho will be putting the nishing touches soon. is work commissioned by Saimaa Sinfonietta is rst in line among the jubilee year´s premieres with performances in Mikkeli and Lappeenranta in February 2024.

Besides numerous other performances of Aho´s works and a recording of his Symphony No. 17 in Lahti, two additional premieres are de nitively scheduled for the year 2024: in April a Double Concerto for Violin and Cello in Oulu, Finland and in August a Trio for the unusual medium of accordion, double bass and percussion.

Kalevi Aho’s birthday, on the 9th of March, will then be celebrated in the spirit of chamber music with a concert at the Helsinki Music Centre as part of the chamber music series of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Yet Aho is de nitely a man of the orchestra and his favourite genre, besides the symphony, is the solo concerto. We count to date no less than 39 concertos by him. And as a curiosity it can be mentioned that no less than four such works – a concerto for piccolo clarinet, one for alto ute, a double concerto for ute and harp, and one for viola and percussion – were premiered during a mere month and a half in the spring of 2022.

e recent premiere, a Baritone Horn Concerto, took place in early June in Kotka, while String Quartet No. 4 will be heard for the rst time a few weeks later, soon after Aho´s own festival, Musica Kalevi Aho, in his hometown Forssa. Even a fth string quartet is awaiting its premiere, while a concerto for kantele and strings and a fourth accordion sonata (for an accordion with quarter-tone intervals) are high on the list of commissions.

Every year a jubilee year

Furthermore, in the autumn, just in time for the Helsinki Book Fair, the biography Kalevi Ahon elämää ja tekoja (Kalevi Aho’s Life and Works), written by his childhood friend Hannu Lahtonen, will be published in Finnish. It is really not a question of a traditional type of life story with accompanying in-depth analyses of the compositions, but the emphasis will primarily be on how the works came to be and how they were received.

Kalevi Aho is thus on the threshold of his life´s fourth quarter of a century, at the same time as 57 years have elapsed since his (in actuality) rst opus, String Quartet No. 1, appeared (Aho composed it when he was 18 years old). He has not given his works opus numbers, but if he had done so the number for Symphony No. 18 would be somewhere around 220. For all that, Aho has never been a scribbler who churns out heaps of pieces just for the sake of it, rather for him composing is an indispensable part of daily life with its need for expression. Even though every artist naturally thirsts for attention in some form, Aho willingly admits that he is not especially fond of jubilee years or unnecessary celebrating in general. For him, every year is a jubilee year or, if you will, a working year. And every day in the composer workshop means seconds of unique music waiting to reach the listeners´ ears and, at best, to utterly move them.

Mats Liljeroos

Photos: Maarit Kytöharju, Romain Etienne

GUNNAR DE FRUMERIE

Circulus Quintus (1965) Dur: 60´

The pedagogically-conceived Circulus Quintus consists of 24 exquisitely varied, romantic character pieces in all keys. This music is permeated by a feeling of lightness, playfulness and fantasy. Here we find inspiration from Baroque dances like Gavotte and Saraband, as well as from folk-music idioms. Also, there are pieces that are more evocative of moods such as Nocturne and Pastoral.

MIKKO HEINIÖ

April Evenings for Black

Twins – Sonata for two pianos (2015) Dur: 15’

A virtuoso piece in five movements of timbral and rhythmic pleasure, in true Heiniö fashion. The world of sound is sumptuously colourful and the steady pulse and drive reflect Heiniö’s love of running. The division between two equal piano parts is so skilfully done that the overall effect is of one big instrument.

EINOJUHANI RAUTAVAARA

ARR. PETER LÖNNQVIST

Cantus arcticus – Duet for Birds and Piano (1972/2012)

Dur: 18’

This transcription for piano of the work by Rautavaara most often performed enables pianists to immerse themselves in the magical world of the Cantus arcticus. It admirably captures the essence of the colourfully impressionistic harmonies and warmly romantic melancholy. The bird soundtrack can be downloaded.

HEIKKI SARMANTO

Impressions de Paris / Paris

Impressions (2003) Dur: ca 67’

20 pieces for piano dedicated to French chansonnier Allain Leprest. Their charming sound is like a declaration of love to Paris. The jazzy suite represents Sarmanto’s piano music at its very best, with its intoxicating, nostalgic melodies. He wrote the Impressions while living in Paris, and themes inspired by the city alternate with improvised variations and yet more melodies.

ALBERT SCHNELZER

Playground (2021) Dur: 15´

Five challenging pieces focusing on playfulness. In the first Debussy meets the cartoon character Bart Simpson; in the second Bach meets Prokofiev, when the right and the left hand are playing tag. The slow third movement is a meditation on how children see magic in everything; the fourth takes us on an adventurous merry-go-round ride; and finally, in the fifth movement, there is a chase after horrible Goblins who love to dance.

MARTIN SKAFTE

12 Preludes – book one (2012/13) Dur: 29’

12 Preludes – book two (2015/17) Dur: 32’

Inspired by Debussy, Skafte exploits the colours and sonorities of the piano but also requires Lisztian virtuosity and pulls in a range of further influences, among them ragtime and Ligeti. A sly sense of humour can often be detected in the background.

BENJAMIN STAERN

Dropwaves (2016/17) Dur: 15´

An overwhelming, exuberantly constructed piano sonata in three movements which playfully surges and gushes forth. There are also idle, meditative sections in which Staern makes use of e-bows to create bourdon tones. Composed in memory of Olivier Messiaen and dedicated to pianist David Huang.

STAFFAN STORM

Lied vom Meer (2009) Dur: 15’

Piano suite in four movements based on Rilke’s poem Lied vom Meer. The work’s form and melodic patterns follow those of the poem. Storm describes this as a musical reading of the text. The music has an impressionistic tinge, especially in the exquisite final movement … im Mondschein… where Storm lets the melodies and harmonies flow; but he ends in the sea, black as night, in the lowest register of the piano, rumbling softly.

MATTHEW WHITTALL

Leaves of Grass (2005-09)

Dur: ca 63’

In these 12 preludes inspired by Walt Whitman’s verses, the piano sings in a fascinating way. The music reflects composers which Whittall has admired: there are heroic arpeggios reminiscent of Chopin seen through a pop-minimalist prism or clangorous white-key chords familiar from Debussy. The pieces are brilliant examples of Whittall’s colourful imagination and originality. They can be performed as a grand, one-hour suite or on their own or in any selections.

VICTORIA YAGLING

Autumn Diary (2003) Dur: ca 8’

A richly colourful suite of wistful, pungent autumnal tones. More tranquil movements tinged with singing melancholy alternate with faster ones. The piano writing is both mellow and translucent, and it seems to spring naturally from the very depths of romanticism, even in the most challenging sections.

PREMIERES

JUNESEPTEMBER 2023

KALEVI AHO

Concerto for Baritone Horn and Orchestra

Kymi Sinfonietta/Okko Kamu, sol. Mizuho Kojima

7.6. Kotka, Finland (Kymijoen Lohisoitto Festival)

String Quartet No. 4

Quartetto di Cremona

4.7. Forssa, Finland (Lounais-Hämeen musiikkipäivät)

MATTHEW PETERSON

Högalidsmässan for mixed choir, brass quartet, percussion, organ and string orchestra

Högalidskyrkan Choir & CO/Benedikt Melichar, Nils Larsson, org

10.6. Stockholm, Sweden

ALBERT SCHNELZER

Aksak and Ciphers

O/Modernt Chamber Orchestra/Hugo Ticciati

15.6. Stockholm, Sweden (O/Modernt Festival)

BENJAMIN STAERN

En strimma hav (A Streak of Sea)

Gothenburg SO & Vocal Ensemble, Side by Side Youth Music Camp/ Ron Davis Alvarez

20.6. Gothenburg, Sweden

ANTTI AUVINEN

Flute Concerto

Avanti!/Bas Wiegers, sol. Bjørnar Habbestad

30.6. Porvoo, Finland (Summer Sounds Festival)

MIKKO HEINIÖ

Allora for solo cello

Erkki Lahesmaa

7.7. Nauvo, Finland (Nauvo Chamber Music)

TIINA MYLLÄRINEN

Pinnan alla (Bubbling Under)

Meri Metsomäki, Eleriin Müüripeal, sopr, Martti Anttila, ten, Jussi Linnanmäki, bass & ensemble

22.7. Kerava, Finland (Our festival/Meidän festivaali)

DANIEL NELSON

The Ghost Machine Treatise

Bundesjugendorchester/Clemens Schuldt, sol. Martynas Levickis, acc

23.7. Toblach, Italy

DANIEL BÖRTZ

Quintet for Clarinet and String Quartet Stenhammar Quartet, Staffan Mårtensson, cl

18.8. Linköping, Sweden (Östergötland Music Days)

LOTTA WENNÄKOSKI

Flickereth (String Quartet)

Kamus Quartet

23.7. Järvenpää, Finland (Our Festival)

Ele for clarinet and orchestra

Ostrobothnian ChO/Dima Slobodeniouk, sol. Lauri Sallinen

29.9. Kokkola, Finland

KAI NIEMINEN

Elegy for Agatha (version for bass flute)

Johanna Kärkkäinen

25.7. Lieksa, Finland (Lieksa Brass Week)

OLLI KORTEKANGAS

Vähän ennen yötä for voices and organ

TriAngel, Jan Lehtola, organ

10.8. Helsinki, Finland

Concerto for Flute, Violin, Harpsichord and Strings

FiBo, sol. Pauliina Fred, fl, Anthony Marini, vl, Petteri Pitko, hpd 17.8. Espoo, Finland (Organ Night and Aria)

MATS LARSSON GOTHE

The Pigeons

Swedish Radio Choir/Kaspar Putnins

29.8. Stockholm, Sweden (Baltic Sea Festival)

BENJAMIN STAERN

Hymnus Aquarius – Hymn to the Baltic Sea

Royal Swedish Navy Band/Alexander Hanson, Anders Paulsson, ssax

27.9. Karlskrona, Sweden

Music for Planet Earth

To put music in a context that is relevant for the times we live in has become ever more vital for both composers and arrangers of concerts. Topical issues engage and inspire to new music. is applies especially to the urgent issues concerning the state of our earth – the climate, the environment and biological diversity.

Coral Guardians is also in on the commission of Benjamin Staern´s latest work, Hymnus Aquarius – A Hymn to the Baltic Sea, a concerto for soprano saxophone and symphonic brass band. It aims to focus on the condition of our seas. Anders Paulsson will be the soloist together with the Royal Swedish Navy Band at the premiere on 27 September in Karlskrona. Already in his rst symphony Polar Vortex , Staern depicts the extreme weather conditions that prevail around the world. It is a sonorous voyage during which we get to experience icy cold as well as unbearable heat and whirlwinds.

Composer and soprano saxophonist Anders Paulsson is a devoted environmentalist and is happy to use his arena to spread knowledge. He has especially taken an interest in the coral reefs, and is the initiator of the project Coral Guardians, in which music and science go hand in hand. “My intention as a composer is to create music that can inspire audiences to strengthen their commitment to environmental stewardship, and also to create understanding and reconciliation between cultures”, writes Paulsson in the preface to his symphonic poem Coral Symphony – Kumulipo Re ections , which was premiered in Honolulu in 2017 by the Hawai´i Symphony Orchestra with JoAnn Falletta at the podium. “Of course I am also interested in art for art´s sake, but if there are broader contexts where one can highlight these vital issues, then that is the best of all”, says Paulsson.

Several works on the theme of oceans and climate have appeared, for instance his choral works Rising Seas, Subterranean Wail and As Ice Was Melting, Oceans Rose.

Karin Rehnqvist felt that it was impossible not to bring up the climate crisis, that fateful issue for humanity, when she received a commission to write a large-scale work for choir and orchestra in 2019. In her Silent Earth , set to texts by Kerstin Perski, Rehnqvist takes us out among the planets, where we can see our exposed earth from a distance. It is an urgent, dramatic, overwhelming and deeply moving work with the climate catastrophe as its foundation.

e premiere took place at the Concertgebouw in January 2022, with the Netherlands Radio Choir and Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Gijs Leenars. e work was awarded the Nordic Council Music Prize in November 2022.

Cecilia Damström has been referred to as the “Greta unberg of music”. She feels that she as an artist has a responsibility to try to make the world a better place by becoming involved in various societal issues. “As artists we can arouse emotional commitment and empathy for our planet and our fellowmen; then it is harder to

look the other way”, says Cecilia in an interview in connection with her being awarded the TEOSTO Prize 2022 for the orchestral work ICE (In Case of Emergency) . In ICE she depicts how the polar ice is melting and how winters are getting increasingly shorter, while the alarm signals are blaring. e piece was written when Lahti was designated the European Green Capital 2021 and premiered by Sinfonia Lahti under the direction of Dalia Stasevska, with a melting ice sculpture placed outside the concert hall.

In her latest orchestral work Wasteland, composed for the Norrlandsoperan Symphony Orchestra, Damström brings up the importance of recycling in the clothing industry. We can actually hear the recycling going on in the music, where brief fragments from wellknown classical works and popular tunes pop up here and there in an ingenious way. Next year will see the premiere of yet another work that touches on the state of our planet: the violin concerto Earth Songs, composed for Pekka Kuusisto and the Tampere Raw ensemble.

Photo: Mats Backer

In February 2024 the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra´s environmental project ”Nordic –A Fragile Hope” will receive its world premiere. Here unique lm projections by Joakim

Anders Paulsson

Benjamin Staern

Mats Larsson Gothe

Karin Rehnqvist

Cecilia Damström

Photo: Agnes Thor

Photo:Filadelfi

Convention Centre

Photo: Ville Juurikkala

Photo: Maria Gothe

Odelberg will be shown, from sea and coastal milieus in all the Nordic countries, combined with newly written music by ve Nordic composers. Sweden is represented by Mats Larsson Gothe´s Submarea. Other composers include Daniel Bjarnasson (Iceland), Miho Hazama (Denmark), Maja S. K. Ratje (Norway) and Outi Tarkiainen (Finland). Inspired by the Nordic natural scenery, they shine the light on the vulnerable resources that we must preserve for the future. Christian Karlsen leads the Gothenburg Symphony in the performances.

REVIEWS

Heiniö chamber music

A magnificent spread of intellectual and gentle chamber music was heard at Mikko Heiniö’s 75th birthday concert. The intellectual and profound in Heiniö’s music always come with a smile, either positive-optimistic and merciful or then simply playful… The Guitar Sonata (2019) is an excellent work, idiomatic and imaginatively colourful. Turun Sanomat 19.5.

Mikko Heiniö: Canzona, Treno della notte, Weitab, Guitar Sonata, Piano Quartet ”Puun ääni” Patrik Kleemola, gtr, Pasi Helin, pf, Ilana Gothóni, vl, Mari Viluksela, vla, Anna Westerlund, vc, Matteo Mastromarino, cl, 18.5.2023 Turku, Finland

Highly individual Wennäkoski

Marie Samuelsson´s Five Seasons was commissioned by the string orchestra Musica Vitae in 2017 as an elegiac commentary on Vivaldi´s Four Seasons. e music is inspired by the e ects of the ever-rising temperatures of the globe. Unlike in Vivaldi´s works, the viola is in focus to provide a darker tone to her concern for the future of the seasons, with regard to the climate changes. Also included is a sound le, with electronically processed sounds associated with various types of weather phenomena, as well as poems by Mimmi Palm introducing each new movement and season, read by the author herself.

Samuelsson’s double concerto Brandnäva ( e Crane’s Beak) for guitar, violin and orchestra depicts both what is threatening and what is beautiful in nature: the increasingly common wild res, but also what is cause for hope since there is always something that will grow even where the ground has been burnt.

“I often ponder about current issues, such as climate change, and try to transform these into music. is is not programme music, but we don´t have a language for everything. Perhaps we need a musical language for the big issues and experiences, for all the things that we share as human beings”, says Marie Samuelsson.

Kristina Fryklöf

Her highly individual way with orchestration, incredible economy of means and discernible musical goals make for music that cleanses the ear with its originality… Flounce is a model of translucent scoring, fast, free-flowing, immediate in appeal and a near-ideal concert-opener (or encore). Gramophone March 2023

Sedecim’s three movements form a substantial triptych, the orchestra explored with tremendous verve in a modernist idiom distinguished by its invigorating lightness of touch. BBC Music Magazine 22.3.

Lotta Wennäkoski: Harp Concerto “Sigla”, Flounce, Sedecim

CD: Finnish RSO/Nicholas Collon, sol. Sivan Magen Ondine ODE-1420-2

Glittering Martinaitytė

The orchestral writing shimmers, glimmers, vibrates and pulses in all the colours of the rainbow in Saudade. The title refers to deep, wistful nostalgia that likewise acquired a concrete interpretation in the work’s palpably emotional magnetism.

Hufvudstadsbladet 7.3.

Žibuoklė Martinaitytė: Saudade Helsinki PO/Janne Nisonen. 3.3.2023 Helsinki, Finland

Tiina Myllärinen’s intensive String Quartet

The very idea of the work aroused interest: how to create different acoustic spaces by means of instrumental techniques… The half-hour journey succeeded in sweeping the listener along. On the way, it afforded some amazingly intensive, barely audible pianissimos charged with tremendous energy. This journey is one worth making – as is getting to know more of Tiina Myllärinen’s works. elementori.blogspot.com 3-2023

Tiina Myllärinen: (Bad) Dreams Come True (String Quartet)

Uusinta Ensemble, 11.3.2023 Helsinki, Finland

Marie Samuelsson

Photo: Sarune Zurba

Mikko Heiniö

Photo: Henna Salmela

Žibuoklė Martinaitytė

Photo: Mats Backer

Rautavaara wizardry

Exquisitely channelled into the Angel of Light symphony is Rautavaara’s lifelong interest in mysticism and mighty archetypes, which also includes angels. The work is a brilliant example of the wizardry of Rautavaara’s late period, in which inspiration presides over a firm command of composition techniques.

Helsingin Sanomat 2.4.

Einojuhani Rautavaara: Angel of Light

Helsinki PO/Hannu Lintu, 31.3.2023 Helsinki, Finland

On Urban Ground – pulsating and sophisticated

Broström creates a pulsating atmosphere with sophisticated harmonies, repeated notes and the skilful alternating of keys. Forceful outbursts create further tension and pungent surprises. Die Presse 20.4.

Tobias Broström: On Urban Ground Wiener Symphoniker/Andrew Manze, 19.4.2023 Vienna, Austria

Double five star rating for Kalevi Aho disc

The Violin Concerto No. 2 is full of rhythmic energy in the 1st movement, alternating with lyrical passages, and the style is a kaleidoscopic mix of tonal and modal writing with memorable melodic phases providing signposts, and varied orchestration adding colour… In the Cello Concerto the emotional climax comes in the central Adagio. BBC Music Magazine March 2023

Kalevi Aho: Violin Concerto No. 2, Cello Concerto No. 2

CD: Kymi Sinfonietta/Olari Elts, sol. Elina Vähälä, vl, Jonathan Roozeman, vlc (BIS-2466)

Ingenious Broström

The orchestral sound is saturated and warmly glowing; nicely adorned with euphonious percussion… “Albedo” is quite simply a beautiful and grandiose symphony that captivates the listener with its three movements. Dagens Nyheter 31.3.

The symphony is an impressively consistent work… from extremely restricted material he extracts extended sonorous happenings with both consistency and variation… The trumpet concerto also includes live electronics with sections where the soloist enters into dialogue with the electronics: a first rhythmic repartee that is answered in an increasingly distorted dialogue… quite an ingenious idea… Once again, this sounds fantastic! Svenska Dagbladet 31.3.

Tobias Broström: Symphony No. 1 – Albedo, Lucernaris – Trumpet Concerto

Royal Stockholm PO/Johannes Gustavsson, Håkan Hardenberger, tpt, 30.3.2023 Stockholm, Sweden (Composer Weekend Festival)

Schnelzer’s SALT – a modern classic

Schnelzer has really taken pains to find a direct and almost folksy form of address… And after this first-rate performance under the direction of Joana Carneiros, certainly more listeners than I would wish that it be recorded as soon as possible. For this piece can be a real hit! Dagens Nyheter 23.4.

Lovely cantilenas in Börtz’s concerto

It is a beautiful and well-wrought piece that fluctuates between fairy-tale atmosphere, harsh outbursts and playful motifs – spritzy iambuses that the soloist bandies about in the orchestra. Malin Broman´s lovely cantilenas stretch themselves out around a richly varied orchestral texture, where the fateful, muffled timpani have a key role. Dagens Nyheter 25.3.

Daniel Börtz: Double Concerto for One World premiere: Norrköping SO/Simon Crawford Phillips, Malin Broman, vln & vla, 23.3.2023 Norrköping, Sweden

SALT is well written; it sounds contemporary and modern. It treats topical issues such as the tension between town and country, man and nature, home and away. At the same time it has something timeless and self-evident about it. It is inviting – and it is melodious. As you can hear. I actually believe that it has the potential to become a future favourite among critics and audiences. Something like a new “God in Disguise”. Indeed, a modern classic. Göteborgsposten 23.4.

Albert Schnelzer: SALT

World premiere: Gothenburg SO & Symphony Chorus, Joana Carneiro, sol. Mari Eriksmoen, sop, Anders Larsson, bar, 20.4.2023 Gothenburg, Sweden

Albert Schnelzer

Photo: Mats Lundqvist

Tobias Broström

Photo: Mats Lundqvist

Photo: Ondine Records/Tuomo Manninen

Einojuhani Rautavaara

Malin Broman & the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra

Photo: Caroline Kvick

NEW PUBLICATIONS

CHAMBER & INSTRUMENTAL

KALEVI AHO

Quintet for Oboe and String Quartet

FG 9790550118478 (score and parts)

MARKKU KOPISTO

Aves clarinetistae for four Bb clarinets

FG 9790550118591 (2 performance scores)

MATS LARSSON GOTHE

Pieces for Glass No. 1 for two natural trumpets with different tunings

GE 14160 (score)

Pieces for Glass No. 2

The starting of the machines and the preparation of the glass for wind quintet

GE 14161 (score), GE 14162 (parts)

Pieces for Glass No. 3

The Creation of the Grail for brass quintet

GE 14163 (score), GE 14164 (parts)

Pieces for Glass No. 4

The Celebration of the Glass for jazz septet

GE 14165 (score), GE 14166 (parts)

Piece for Glass No. 5

The Walk into Cosmos for wind band

GE 14167 (score), GE 14169 (study score)

ŽIBUOKLĖ MARTINAITYTĖ

Louder-Quieter for two trombones and tuba

FG 9790550118621 (score and parts)

Osmosis for brass sextet

FG 9790550118614 (score and parts)

PER GUNNAR PETERSSON

Toccata in Nine for organ

GE 14503

LARA POE

Divergence for string quartet

FG 979055011853 (score and parts)

Mainspring for alto saxophone and piano

FG 9790550118553

IIRO RANTALA

Veneziana for chamber ensemble and piano

An exciting 50-minute program about all things Venice; how famous composers were affected by the city, how they affected the city and became part of the Venetian Story –composed with an Iiro twist.

FG 9790550118287 (study score)

GÖTE WIDLUND ARR

Folkligt (Folksy)

Eight tunes for organ

GE 14512

DAG WIRÉN

Little Sereande for guitar

New edited version by Mats Bergström

GE 14449

ORCHESTRA

BENJAMIN STAERN

En strimma hav (A Streak of the Sea) for choir, young players and orchestra

To celebrate El Sistema Sweden’s 10th anniversary

Text: Edith Södergran (Swe)

GE 13942 (score), GE 13944 (study score), GE 13945 (choral score)

CHORAL& VOCAL

THOMAS JENNEFELT

Dann enstrahlt ... 6th movement from ‘Krieg’ for mixed choir a cappella

Text: Vatikan concilium 2 (Ger)

GE 14527

ILKKA KUUSISTO ARR

Laulu on iloni ja työni for mixed choir

Text: A.J.Tanner (Fin)

FG 9790550118607

TIMOJUHANI KYLLÖNEN

Three songs for soprano and cello

Text: Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead (Eng)

FG 9790550118522

ŽIBUOKLĖ MARTINAITYTĖ

Aletheia for mixed choir

FG 9790550118577

The Blue of Distance for mixed choir

FG 9790550118560

Chant des Voyelles for mixed choir

FG 9790550118584

The texts of these three works are wordless/phonetics.

ROLF MARTINSSON

Ave Maria for female choir

Text: Trad (Lat)

GE 14386

KARIN REHNQVIST

Jag vet, jag duger (I Know, I’m Good Enough) for descant choir, piano and descant instrument ad lib

Text: Karin Rehnqvist (Swe)

GE 14472 (score)

TUTORS

GÉZA SZILVAY

Colourstrings Violin ABC – Hedegű ABC

Handbook for teachers and parents (revised Hungarian edition)

FG 9790550118515

For further information contact us at:

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Fennica Gehrman is moving in June-July. Our new visiting address is Fredrikinkatu 61 A, 00100 Helsinki. Due to the move, there may be some delays in deliveries as the office may be temporarily closed. More information will be available on our web site.