Reper toire tips
R E V IE W S
Chamber music with piano for violin, guitar, double bass, accordion and piano
Aho comes very close to the world of the traditional Argentinean tango in this tonal, melodic and dance-like work for chamber ensemble. The Tango lamentoso and Tango appassionato revolve around C minor, while the Tango dolente is mostly in G minor. Temperament and virtuosity are required if the players are to give a convincing performance of this work.
DANIEL BÖRTZ Agora (2009-2010) Dur: 15’ for piano quintet
Agora is the Greek word for market place; in ancient times it was also a place of assembly where the citizens held discussions and selected persons made decisions. The piano quintet Agora consists of five “character pieces”, including gravity, joy, pleasure, argumentation – all typical of an Agora.
JÖRGEN DAFGÅRD Mahler Revisited (2010) Dur: 4’
for flute, violin, cello and piano
Mahler Revisited is a short paraphrase of the second movement of Mahler´s Fifth Symphony. Only a small part of the movement´s thematic material has been used – and in a very different way, bringing out the intrinsic mechanical and polyrhythmic tendencies. One is reminded of clocks, cog wheels and gear mechanisms. In glimpses and towards the end the contrasting lyrical character breaks through.
ANDERS ELIASSON Fogliame (1990) Dur: 19’ for piano quartet
Fogliame means foliage and refers to the continually shifting and unpredictable shimmer of light in the shadows of the trees. It is written in a single movement but contains numerous contrasting sections where intensity and allegro alternate with soothing calm and lento – an often repeated indication is dolcissimo. The music develops freely, like when the winds randomly stir the luminous flux among the leaves.
MIKKO HEINIÖ The Voice of the Tree (Puun ääni, 2006) Dur: 17’ for piano quartet
This Piano Quartet commissioned by the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival was inspired by poems about trees and wood by Eira Stenberg. The properties of wood as a material are made clear as the instruments are hit, tapped and rubbed. Despite the faint hint of West African pentatonic melody and rhythm, the dominant qualities are physicality, sensitivity and unpredictability.
MAGNUS LINDBERG …de Tartuffe, je crois (1981) Dur: 11’ for piano quintet
Lindberg’s early breakthrough work, written when he was 22, scored success at the Unesco Composers’ Rostrum and has been popular ever since. It is a work of fantastic intensity and has a firm dramatic span. The year before, Lindberg had composed some incidental music for a play on the theme of Molière, and elements of this crop up in different ways in this Piano Quintet.
ALBERT SCHNELZER Predatory dances (2003) Dur: 12’
for piano trio
Schnelzer succeeds in making the piano trio sound like a whole orchestra. The trio starts out, violent and aggressive, in forte fortissimo. Like pursued game the strings rush on with the piano driving them from behind. In between there are sections of calm and rest, and melodic lines that are here and there achingly beautiful. This is also how the trio is concluded: Andante e tranquillo.
TAPIO TUOMELA Pierrot (2004) Dur: 16’
for flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano
Tuomela’s Quintet ‘Pierrot’ is bursting with rhythmic energy. The title alludes to the line-up of Schönberg’s song cycle Pierrot Lunaire, and also to Commedia dell’arte. The dramatic scheme relies on the contrasting of two elements: a quick, whimsical character that is interrupted by slow music marked by melancholic gestures.
Aho’s Minea is a showpiece in which all the instruments and sections of the orchestra get a chance to shine… the string cluster breathing like giant bellows appeals particularly to the ear at the beginning of the 15th Symphony. Helsingin Sanomat 23.12. There cannot be many contemporary composers of whom it may be said that each new work is a masterpiece, but when it comes to Kalevi Aho, we are not far from the truth. Hufvudstadsbladet 22.1. Kalevi Aho: Minea, Symphony No. 15, Double Bass Concerto
CD: Lahti SO/ Osmo Vänskä, sol. Eero Munter (BIS-SACD 1866)
Eliasson´s last work radiates tenderness The music has a tonal basis and a lyrical character... at times the ideas fly like swift swallows through the air. However, the most personal feature of the trio is the poetry, the care, indeed the tenderness that the music radiates. It goes without saying that it was a devoted performance of this fine contribution to the repertoire of the trio. Svenska Dagbladet 11.2. Anders Eliasson: String Trio – Ahnungen
World premiere: Trio Zilliacus/Persson/Raitinen, 10.2.2014 Stockholm, Sweden
ERKKI-SVEN TÜÜR Architectonics II (1986) Dur: 10’
for clarinet, cello and piano
Architectonics VII (1992) Dur: 8’ for flute, bass clarinet and piano
Architectonics is a series of seven works scored for various chamber ensembles. Tüür moulds his architectonics using different building blocks and has no inhibitions in the way he combines dissimilar stylistic features. The music is full of tensions and contrasts: tonality and atonality, tranquil meditativeness and explosive theatricality – all side by side. Architectonics VII is also available as a version for flute, cello and harpsichord.
JOHAN ULLÉN The Deadly Sins (2006-2008) Dur: 37’
for piano trio
Seven tangos, each describing the character of one of the Deadly Sins. For example “Envy”, is in the form of a crime passionnel with the violin in focus, “Gluttony”, stuffs itself with new melodies that make the tango grow until it bursts, and the seventh and final tango, “Anger”, is a slow dance in which rage gradually comes to a boil inside. Trio Zilliacus/Persson/Raitinen
Photo: Crescendi Artists
KALEVI AHO Three tangos (1999) Dur: 11’
Aho lets the orchestra shine