Kalevi Aho: Quasi una fantasia for horn and organ
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Kalevi Aho: Quasi una fantasia for horn and organ

Quasi una fantasia for horn and organ (2011) was composed on the commission by organist Jan Lehtola, who premiered it with horn player Petri Komulainen in 2012. The piece is extremely virtuosic, and almost concerto-like in nature. At times the horn plays also quarter-tone scales by combining ‘perfect’ and ‘imperfect’ (the 7th, 11th and 13th)…

Roope Mäenpää: Sonata for flute and piano
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Roope Mäenpää: Sonata for flute and piano

Roope Mäenpää’s Sonata for flute and piano (2020) was composed on a small island Utö in the Archipelago Sea (in the Baltic Sea). Isolated from his normal environment the composer didn’t find so much peace or harmony as insecurity and introversion. These sensations of otherness, together with an intensive creative project, left a diary-like mark…

Lauri Mäntysaari: Élégie for accordion
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Lauri Mäntysaari: Élégie for accordion

Lauri Mäntysaari’s solo accordion work Élégie (2020-2021) was forming into a serene, melancholic passacaglia, when the devastating news shocked the world: the iconic cathedral of Notre Dame was on fire. The composer decided to reform the plan for his work, going through purgatory towards a distant reminiscence of the earliest example of European musical polyhphony,…

Kalevi Aho at 75
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Kalevi Aho at 75

Kalevi Aho, one of Finland’s most celebrated contemporary composers, will be 75 on 9 March 2024, and there will be numerous concerts to mark the event. The Saimaa Sinfonietta commissioned him to write his 18th symphony, which was premiered in Mikkeli on 8 February with Erkki Lasonpalo conducting. The Oulu Symphony Orchestra under Jessica Cottis…