This second album of early 19th century bassoon concertos by Jaakko Luoma and Tapiola Sinfonietta includes four delightful concerto gems written for Frans Carl Preumayr (1782-1853), proficient and talented bassoonist who moved to Stockholm in 1802. Probably the best-known of the works were written by his Finnish father-in-law Bernhard Henrik Crusell and Franz Berwald, Sweden's most famous composer of the Romantic period. However, the impressive bassoon concerto by the Swiss-born Edouard Du Puy has been very rarely heard. Also the German-born composer Eduard Brendler has been largely forgotten by music history. All four works are powerful, interesting, and demanding solo compositions which offer a thrilling journey into the musical life in one of the Nordic music capitals 200 years ago.

This second album of early 19th century bassoon concertos by Jaakko Luoma and Tapiola Sinfonietta includes four delightful concerto gems written for Frans Carl Preumayr (1782–1853), proficient and talented bassoonist who moved to Stockholm in 1802. Probably the best-known of the works were written by his Finnish father-in-law Bernhard Henrik Crusell and Franz Berwald, Sweden’s most famous composer of the Romantic period. However, the impressive bassoon concerto by the Swiss-born Édouard Du Puy has been very rarely heard. Also the German-born composer Eduard Brendler has been largely forgotten by music history. All four works are powerful, interesting, and demanding solo compositions which offer a thrilling journey into the musical life in one of the Nordic music capitals 200 years ago.

This recording – the first release of a complete cycle with the Finnish pianist and conductor Olli Mustonen, who plays two of his own cadenzas in Opus 15 – demonstrates the vitality of the piano concerto genre, which Beethoven preferred for various reasons. Synonymous with the composer, the five great individualities lie like continents in the sea of music, out of which they were catapulted, as it were, with volcanic force. But their geology also developed in phases of varying lengths. After Beethoven’s turbulent beginning in Bonn with the little E flat major concerto of 1784, historical developments forced a stylistic reorientation. In place of Johann Christian Bach, Mozart became his model.

This second instalment in the ongoing complete Ferdinand Ries symphony cycle with the Tapiola Sinfonietta and conductor Janne Nisonen includes the composer’s 4th and 5th symphonies. Although numbered as the composer’s fifth, the D minor symphony dates from 1813 and was his second symphony to be completed. The symphony was Ries’ debut with the London Philharmonic Society which was to be an important influence in his career for the next eleven years after he had settled in the city. The first performance of the symphony was a major success and, according to a review, ‘This [symphony] is one of those works which announce the genius of its author.’ Ries was being favourably compared to the likes of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. Ries’ Symphony No. 4, Op. 110 was composed in London in 1818 but, for reasons unknown, did not achieve a similar success to that of his 5th Symphony.

The material on this release by Finnish bassoonist Jaakko Luoma with the marvelous Tapiola Sinfonietta under Janne Nisonen may seem obscure enough to be aimed at bassoonists only. They will certainly find a valuable repertory here, but the album is of considerably wider interest. The only remotely familiar work is the Bassoon Concerto in B flat major, K. 191, by the young Mozart, an elegant work in the French style that receives a suitably bittersweet performance.

The debt owed by French music to Saint-Saëns is often overlooked. At a time when many composers saw opera as the only way forward, Saint-Saëns took the supposedly Germanic forms of symphony, sonata and concerto, and transformed them into something idiomatically French. His five concertos for piano and orchestra demonstrate his own skills as a pianist and reflect his admiration for Liszt.

Ferdinand Ries was Beethoven's only acknowledged pupil. A friend and biographer of Beethoven, he wrote an impressive catalogue of works, including eight symphonies and several concertos. Like Beethoven before him, Ries had delayed writing his first symphony until he felt confident enough of his experience and technique to compose a work that would bear comparison with the masterpieces of Haydn and Mozart and, in his case, Beethoven himself. During Ries' eleven years in London he composed five symphonies for the Philharmonic concerts. His Symphony in C minor, Op.80, although published second, was actually the third of his symphonies to be composed.

First volume in a new cycle by Tapiola Sinfonietta under Janne Nisonen presenting the symphonies of Ferdinand Ries (1784–1838), Beethoven’s only acknowledged composition pupil, close friend and biographer. Often remembered in music history as Beethoven’s ‘right hand’, these new recordings by the Tapiola Sinfonietta are showcasing a remarkable and talented early 19th century symphonist with a voice of his own.

This album is in many ways a celebration of collaboration. All the concertos on the recording have been composed for Petri Kumela and he has already worked together a lot with each composer. Kumela has been actively involved in the composition processes of all concerts. Tapiola Sinfonietta and Dima Slobodeniouk are also familiar partners of Kumela.

Influenced by the great classics of the 20th century as well as by other musical genres such as world music and rock, Sebastian Fagerlund's orchestral music, which has held a central position in his work, is known for it's pounding rhythmic energy and the quiet, gripping intensity of the more static passages. The flute concerto 'Terral' was written in close collaboration with Sharon Bezaly. Referring to a land breeze in Spain, 'Terral' is like a constant variation in a transparent and airy soundscape reminiscent of the soil taking on a new appearance when blown by the wind.

The focus of Kalevi Aho’s output lies on large-scale orchestral works, and his work-list includes fifteen symphonies to date, composed between 1969 and 2010. Although the Finnish composer is famously lavish as an orchestrator, and often invites rare guests such as the heckelphone into his orchestra, the scores of Aho’s three chamber symphonies are much more economic in scale. But although composed for some twenty strings in all, and of more modest durations than for instance the 50-minute Eighth Symphony for organ and orchestra, they bear eloquent proof of the composer’s aim of exploiting to the full the expressive capabilities of a string orchestra.

The Second Concerto proves an expressive and undeservedly neglected gem in Kantorow's hands.

Outstanding ensemble playing, carefully judged phrasing and dynamic tension, and ravishing solo work.