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Hiyoli Togawa - Songs of Solitude (2021)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Hiyoli Togawa - Songs of Solitude (2021)

Hiyoli Togawa - Songs of Solitude (2021)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 378 Mb | Total time: 78:54 | Scans included
Classical | Label: BIS Records | # BIS-SACD-2533 | Recorded: 2020

Songs of Solitude was conceived by the violist Hiyoli Togawa at a time when a virus was forcing people across the world into isolation and she herself needed to find a new rhythm of life as concert after concert was being cancelled. As she relates in the booklet to the disc, playing Bach – music that combines powerful emotions with a crystal-clear structure – became part of her daily routine, along with walks along the empty streets of Berlin. During these, the importance of remaining creative became even clearer to her, along with the idea to offer people the opportunity through music to reflect upon the difficulties of living through a pandemic.

Bram van Sambeek - Fagerlund & Aho: Bassoon Concertos (2016)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Bram van Sambeek - Fagerlund & Aho: Bassoon Concertos (2016)

Bram van Sambeek - Fagerlund & Aho: Bassoon Concertos (2016)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 341 Mb | Total time: 76:12 | Scans included
Classical | Label: BIS | # BISSACD 2206 | Recorded: 2015

The Finnish composer Kalevi Aho and his younger colleague and compatriot Sebastian Fagerlund have both received international recognition for their masterful treatment of large orchestral forces. This they have demonstrated in purely orchestral as well as in concertante works – Aho has written 26 concertos to date (most of them in his monumental project to compose a concerto for each of the main orchestral instruments), and Fagerlund’s concertos for clarinet and for violin have been released by BIS to critical acclaim.

Martin Fröst, Osmo Vänskä, Lahti Symphony Orchestra - Nielsen, Aho: Clarinet Concertos (2007)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Martin Fröst, Osmo Vänskä, Lahti Symphony Orchestra - Nielsen, Aho: Clarinet Concertos (2007)

Martin Fröst, Osmo Vänskä, Lahti Symphony Orchestra - Nielsen, Aho: Clarinet Concertos (2007)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 208 Mb | Total time: 54:00 | Scans included
Classical | Label: BIS | # BISSACD1463 | Recorded: 2004, 2006

Fearsomely talented Swedish clarinetist Martin Fröst continues his conquest of the major concerto repertoire for his instrument with this recording of Carl Nielsen's 1928 Clarinet Concerto, paired with a new concerto by Finland's Kalevi Aho. The Nielsen concerto is a dense work in which the clarinet and the orchestra spend a lot of time going their separate ways, with the path of the clarinet being very twisted indeed. Difficult arabesques on the clarinet are interrupted without warning by heraldic blasts from the orchestral horns. The concerto was greeted by early reviewers as a radical modern work, and an instrumentalist wanting to push the clarinet into uncomfortable territory can still make it sound that way.

John Storgårds, Lahti Symphony Orchestra - Kalevi Aho: Symphony No. 12 "Luosto" (2008)

Posted By: ArlegZ
John Storgårds, Lahti Symphony Orchestra - Kalevi Aho: Symphony No. 12 "Luosto" (2008)

John Storgårds, Lahti Symphony Orchestra - Kalevi Aho: Symphony No. 12 "Luosto" (2008)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 197 Mb | Total time: 48:56 | Scans included
Classical | Label: BIS | # BIS-CD-1676 | Recorded: 2007

To say the least, Kalevi Aho's Twelfth Symphony is unique in musical history. Like Wagner's Parsifal, it was written to be performed in a specific acoustic environment. But while Parsifal was composed for Wagner's six-year-old Festspielhaus in Bayreuth, Aho's Twelfth was composed for Finland's million-year-old Luosto Mountain in Lapland, hence the sobriquet Luosto Symphony. Commissioned by Soldankylä, the city at the base of the mountain, Aho wrote his Twelfth after carefully exploring the mountain slopes' acoustical properties and many of his artistic decisions were dictated by his findings. Given that vast stage, for example, the work would contain no fast sections requiring precision ensemble playing. And because it would be played outside, the possibility of an audible wind had to be taken into account.

Osmo Vänskä, Lahti Symphony Orchestra - Kalevi Aho: Symphonic Dances; Symphony No. 11 (2004)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Osmo Vänskä, Lahti Symphony Orchestra - Kalevi Aho: Symphonic Dances; Symphony No. 11 (2004)

Osmo Vänskä, Lahti Symphony Orchestra - Kalevi Aho: Symphonic Dances; Symphony No. 11 (2004)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 243 Mb | Total time: 60:09 | Scans included
Classical | Label: BIS | # BIS-CD-1336 | Recorded: 2003

Among his contemporaries, Kalevi Aho stands as one of the most exciting composers, and foremost among his peers in revitalizing the Finnish symphonic tradition for the postmodern period. A student of Einojuhani Rautavaara, Aho has surpassed his teacher in orchestrational skill and daring. He has amply demonstrated that the symphony should not be treated as an academic exercise in imitation of past masters, and that it deserves the full resources of today's virtuoso orchestra and all the freedoms of the avant-garde's explorations. The Symphony No. 11 for six percussionists and orchestra consolidates the gains of modernism and spans innovations from Varèse to Xenakis.

Osmo Vänskä, Lahti Symphony Orchestra - Kalevi Aho: Piano Concerto No. 2; Symphony No. 13 (2010)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Osmo Vänskä, Lahti Symphony Orchestra - Kalevi Aho: Piano Concerto No. 2; Symphony No. 13 (2010)

Osmo Vänskä, Lahti Symphony Orchestra - Kalevi Aho: Piano Concerto No. 2; Symphony No. 13 (2010)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 271 Mb | Total time: 68:49 | Scans included
Classical | Label: BIS | # BIS-CD-1316 | Recorded: 2004, 2005

With fifteen symphonies in his work list to date, as well as numerous other orchestral pieces, Kalevi Aho is one of today's most important composers of orchestral music. Twelve of the symphonies have already been released on BIS, in recordings that have earned an ever-growing interest. recent discs have been met with acclaim, for instance in the International Record Review where Symphony No.12 (‘Luosto') was described as ‘music of such graphic impact and visually arresting imagery that it feels as though you could reach out and touch it'.

Erkki Lasonpalo, Saimaa Sinfonietta - Kalevi Aho: Recorder Concerto; Tenor Saxophone Concerto (2023)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Erkki Lasonpalo, Saimaa Sinfonietta - Kalevi Aho: Recorder Concerto; Tenor Saxophone Concerto (2023)

Erkki Lasonpalo, Saimaa Sinfonietta - Kalevi Aho: Recorder Concerto; Tenor Saxophone Concerto (2023)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 319 Mb | Total time: 71:33 | Scans included
Classical | Label: BIS | # BIS-SACD-2646 | Recorded: 2022

Concertante works featuring the recorder, tenor saxophone and accordion are few and far between. Stimulated by daring soloists, the prolific Finnish composer Kalevi Aho has composed such works, contributing in his own way to the development of an original and attractive repertoire. The Concerto for Recorder requires the soloist to play four types of recorder, from bass to sopranino. The work explores extended techniques and also does not shy away from flashbacks to the golden age of the instrument. Aho received the initial impetus for his Concerto for tenor saxophone after a concert by Esa Pietila.

John Storgårds, Chamber Orchestra of Lapland - Kalevi Aho: Kysymysten kirja, Viola Concerto, Symphony No.14 (2009)

Posted By: ArlegZ
John Storgårds, Chamber Orchestra of Lapland - Kalevi Aho: Kysymysten kirja, Viola Concerto,  Symphony No.14 (2009)

John Storgårds, Chamber Orchestra of Lapland - Kalevi Aho: Kysymysten kirja, Viola Concerto, Symphony No.14 (2009)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 307 Mb | Total time: 79:34 | Scans included
Classical | Label: BIS | # BIS-CD-1686 | Recorded: 2007

Kalevi Aho is one of those rare creatures, a living composer whose self-effacing nature - he looks endearingly owlish in all his publicity photographs - conceals a consistent and enchanting musical talent. After 40 years of large-scale works he has entered a much more intimate phase with Rituals, which consists of three separate pieces designed to be performed as a single concert. The work was premiered and recorded by Storgårds and the Lapland Chamber Orchestra in November 2007.

Osmo Vänskä, Lahti Symphony Orchestra - Kalevi Aho: Symphony No.10, Rejoicing of the Deep Waters (1997)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Osmo Vänskä, Lahti Symphony Orchestra - Kalevi Aho: Symphony No.10, Rejoicing of the Deep Waters (1997)

Osmo Vänskä, Lahti Symphony Orchestra - Kalevi Aho: Symphony No.10, Rejoicing of the Deep Waters (1997)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 226 Mb | Total time: 58:44 | Scans included
Classical | Label: BIS | # BIS-CD-856 | Recorded: 1996, 1997

Aho’s opera Insect Life may have been rejected at first but that didn’t stop him dabbling in the genre. Rejoicing of the Deep Waters is based on his opera, Before We All Have Drowned, which has since been performed in Helsinki and Lūbeck. And even though it was written for the city of Lahti’s 90th anniversary it’s certainly not celebratory in tone. In fact the work begins with a lovelorn surgical nurse throwing herself off a bridge, the ensuing story told in a series of flashbacks.

Osmo Vänskä, Lahti Symphony Orchestra - Kalevi Aho: Symphony No.9, Concerto for cello & orchestra (1995)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Osmo Vänskä, Lahti Symphony Orchestra - Kalevi Aho: Symphony No.9,  Concerto for cello & orchestra (1995)

Osmo Vänskä, Lahti Symphony Orchestra - Kalevi Aho: Symphony No.9, Concerto for cello & orchestra (1995)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 220 Mb | Total time: 61:59 | Scans included
Classical | Label: BIS | # BIS-CD-706 | Recorded: 1993, 1995

In her liner-notes Anne Weller points out that the Eighth and Ninth symphonies – paired at the latter’s premiere – are musical opposites, one dark the other light. A quick run-through of the Ninth rather confirms this, with Christian Lindberg’s mellifluous entry in the first movement quite without angst or aggression. Even the animated orchestration suggests an altogether more optimistic mood. In fact just listen to the passage that begins at 2:44, a lightly sprung piece of baroquerie with some beautifully articulated playing from the soloist.

Osmo Vänskä, Lahti Symphony Orchestra - Kalevi Aho: Symphony No.8, Pergamon (1994)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Osmo Vänskä, Lahti Symphony Orchestra - Kalevi Aho: Symphony No.8, Pergamon (1994)

Osmo Vänskä, Lahti Symphony Orchestra - Kalevi Aho: Symphony No.8, Pergamon (1994)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 243 Mb | Total time: 61:54 | Scans included
Classical | Label: BIS | # BIS-CD-646 | Recorded: 1994

Kalevi Aho (b. 1949) has stated that his works have an "abstract plot" driving his music from behind the scenes. His series of (so far) eleven symphonies certainly testifies to this statement; each of his symphonies seems to set out from a fixed point, always to confront the impassable, and always trying to reconcile that conflict in the most poignant and personal of ways.

Osmo Vänskä, Lahti Symphony Orchestra - Kalevi Aho: Symphony No. 2, Symphony No. 7 (1998)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Osmo Vänskä, Lahti Symphony Orchestra - Kalevi Aho: Symphony No. 2, Symphony No. 7 (1998)

Osmo Vänskä, Lahti Symphony Orchestra - Kalevi Aho: Symphony No. 2, Symphony No. 7 (1998)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 269 Mb | Total time: 68:17 | Scans included
Classical | Label: BIS | # BIS-CD-936 | Recorded: 1998

Second Symphony is also a youthful work – the composer was just 21 at the time – but it differs from the First in that it’s cast in a single movement. After the premiere in 1973 Aho decided to rework the middle section, a task he didn’t attempt until 1995. The result is a compact, tightly structured piece – it’s a triple fugue – which the composer candidly admits was intended as an antidote to some of the more ‘difficult’ music of the 1960s.

Øystein Baadsvik, Mats Rondin, Lewis Lipnick, Andrew Litton - Kalevi Aho: Tuba and Contrabassoon Concertos (2007)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Øystein Baadsvik, Mats Rondin, Lewis Lipnick, Andrew Litton - Kalevi Aho: Tuba and Contrabassoon Concertos (2007)

Øystein Baadsvik, Mats Rondin, Lewis Lipnick, Andrew Litton - Kalevi Aho: Tuba and Contrabassoon Concertos (2007)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 238 Mb | Total time: 63:42 | Scans included
Classical | Label: BIS | # BIS-CD-1574 | Recorded: 2006

Recent BIS issues of Kalevi Aho’s concertos for flute and clarinet – entrancingly beautiful and elementally energetic works, respectively – have confirmed him as one of the foremost composers of concertos in our day. The two concertos on this new disc for the bassi profundi of the orchestra strike me as less instantly rewarding, but that may be just that their rewards are more of the slow-release kind.

Sinfonia Lahti Chamber Ensemble - Kalevi Aho: Quintet for Oboe and String Quartet, Seven Inventions & Postlude, Quintet (2000)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Sinfonia Lahti Chamber Ensemble - Kalevi Aho: Quintet for Oboe and String Quartet, Seven Inventions & Postlude, Quintet (2000)

Sinfonia Lahti Chamber Ensemble - Kalevi Aho: Quintet for Oboe and String Quartet, Seven Inventions & Postlude, Quintet (2000)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 285 Mb | Total time: 64:51 | Scans included
Classical | Label: BIS | # BIS-CD-1036 | Recorded: 1999

We go right back to the beginning of Aho’s musical career with the first quintet on this disc, composed in 1973. In his booklet notes Aho confesses his love for the oboe; as with the tuba in the Tuba Concerto, he took the trouble to familiarise himself with the oboe's capabilities, the idea being to ‘extend the instrument’s expressive range’.
The first of the two movements opens with a bright, songful introduction on the oboe, soon underpinned by the warm strings. As with the orchestral works there is a remarkable clarity to the writing and a real sense of musical purpose. Even in the extended and more animated passages there is a lively dialogue between oboe and strings, at times building to moments of great intensity.

Osmo Vänskä, Lahti Symphony Orchestra - Kalevi Aho: Chinese Songs, Symphony No. 4 (2000)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Osmo Vänskä, Lahti Symphony Orchestra - Kalevi Aho: Chinese Songs, Symphony No. 4 (2000)

Osmo Vänskä, Lahti Symphony Orchestra - Kalevi Aho: Chinese Songs, Symphony No. 4 (2000)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 228 Mb | Total time: 63:19 | Scans included
Classical | Label: BIS | # BIS-CD-1066 | Recorded: 1999

Finnish composer Kalevi Aho’s Fourth Symphony (1972) contains, in its three movements, elements both typical of his early work and prophetic of things to come. The first movement’s fugal exposition reveals a continuation of that concern with musical shape and form already quite evident in Aho’s previous symphonies. His skillful use of counterpoint to convey an impression of sadness or dread echoes that great master of creepy fugue writing, Bartók. The second movement unleashes a violent whirlwind of sound very much in the spirit of Mahler’s or Shostakovich’s more nihilistic moments, and its instrumental virtuosity very much anticipates the composer’s most recent, concertante-style symphonic writing.