Ann-Elise Hannikainen (1946–2012), the great-granddaughter of P.J. Hannikainen, lived a cosmopolitan life as her father was working as diplomat. She studied piano playing in Warsaw and composing in Madrid with Ernesto Halffter Ercriche, a student of Manuel de Falla. Hannikainen wrote the two piano pieces Pensamientos (1974) and Toccata-fantasia (1975) in El Escorial. The first…
Ann-Elise Hannikainen (1946–2012), the great-granddaughter of P.J. Hannikainen, lived a cosmopolitan life as her father was working as diplomat. She studied piano playing in Warsaw and composing in Madrid with Ernesto Halffter Ercriche, a student of Manuel de Falla. Cháchara (1980) is her first composition for solo instrument and piano, and it was also Hannikainen’s…
Ida Moberg (1859–1947) was the first widely educated Finnish female composer. Born in Helsinki, she grew up in a musical family and studied singing and piano at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Later she also studied in Helsinki, Dresden, Berlin and Hellerau. Stillhet (Silence), a 2,5-minute lullaby for string orchestra is extracted from her unfinished opera…
Minna von Knorring (1846-1918) was a fascinating character in the musical scene of Helsinki. She had no formal music education but nevertheless she composed and published several songs. Some of them were part of the repertoire of Aino Ackté and Jenny Spennert, the most celebrated Finnish singers of the period. The dramatic Nocturne in F…
Kalevi Aho’s Flute Concerto (2002) was initially inspired by the magnificent, enigmatic poetry of the Swede Tomas Tranströmer, but the vocal ideas nevertheless adapted themselves to the flute. There is lots of singing, lyrical music at the beginning and end of this three-movement work. This is one of the most beautiful works Aho has ever…
Kalevi Aho’s Clarinet concerto (2005) has five movements played without pause. It was premiered in London by Martin Fröst in 2006 and is one of the best known and most beloved concertos by Aho. Solo part & piano reduction 55011-573-6, € 43,50 Buy now
Kai Nieminen’s Fragmental Reflections (2018) draws on the melancholy mood of the Finnish folk song "Tein minä pillin pajupuusta" (I made a willow whistle), familiar to most Finns. The emotional scale of this 10-minute guitar fantasy ranges from a nostalgic striving for beauty to discordantly disruptive moments.55011-593-4, € 13,20
Matthew Whittall’s (b. 1975) Love is Little (2009) is a modern motet which uses a Shaker hymn as cantus firmus. The original melody is gradually slowed down, looped and fragmented, forming a quiet, ambient soundscape in which each singer performs their own part freely. The piece is suitable for larger choirs but also works with…
A pioneer of Finnish modern jazz, Heikki Sarmanto (1939–) is renowned for his renderings of jazz numbers. No wonder, therefore, that broken chords and familiar keys resonate and sit well under the hand in the piano part of this Northern Dreams suite. The solo part is originally written for tenor saxophone and is also available…
Dedicated to and premiered by Petri Kumela, Pehr Henrik Nordgren’s (1944–2008) Come da lontano for guitar (2003) carries ideas from Nordgren’s previous work Amor – desesperada op. 120 (for soprano and ensemble) which was completed a few months before the work for solo guitar. 55011-589-7, € 10,00
