Lakshminarayana Subramaniam, Øystein Baadsvik & Jaakko Kuusisto – Journey (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 58:35 minutes | 1,08 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © BIS
Called ‘the God of the Indian violin’, Lakshminarayana Subramaniam has collaborated with leading representatives of Indian and Western classical traditions, from Ravi Shankar to Yehudi Menuhin. But with a strong belief in music as a universal language he is also a leading figure in fusion music, collaborating with musicians of all genres and nationalities, from Stephane Grappelli or George Harrison to Stevie Wonder and Herbie Hancock.
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Lahti Symphony Orchestra & Jaakko Kuusisto – Lauri Porra: Entropia (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:23:18 minutes | 1,45 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © BIS
Great-grandson of composer Jean Sibelius, Lauri Porra began playing the cello at the age of six, but later switched to bass guitar. In addition to his work as a composer for orchestra, film and media, he is a member of the heavy metal band Stratovarius with which he has recorded four albums and performed concerts in over 60 countries. Highly versatile, Porra also leads his own Lauri Porra Flyover Ensemble, combining musical styles ranging from rock and jazz to classical, electronic and film music. Entropia, his concerto for electric bass and orchestra, was premièred by the composer and the Lahti Symphony Orchestra at the concert that opened the 2015 season, Jean Sibelius’s 150th anniversary year. On this recording, the concerto is preceded by the three-part Domino Suite, which features substantial solos for piano and jazz drum set. Always open to new collaborations, Porra has also worked with Finnish rapper Paperi T (Henri Pulkkinen) on Kohta, a piece commissioned by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. The work also exists in an instrumental version and these two incarnations open and close the amply-filled (+83 minutes!) album.
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Jaakko Kuusisto – Bach: Sonatas & Partitas (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 02:21:29 minutes | 2,54 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © BIS
There are many questions surrounding Johann Sebastian Bach’s ‘Six Solos for violin’, or the Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin, as they are usually called today. When did he compose them, and why, and for whom? In what circumstances were they performed? And why would a master of polyphony choose to write for a melody instrument with limited scope for polyphony or chords? We can only guess at the answers – which makes the works all the more fascinating. The legendary violinist George Enescu famously described the set as ‘the Himalayas of violinists’, but for more than 200 years they were primarily regarded as pedagogical exercises rather than compositions worthy of the concert hall. Felix Mendelssohn and Robert Schumann tried to popularize them by making versions with piano accompaniment, while Busoni did away with the violin altogether in his transcription of the famous Chaconne from Partita No. 2. But since Yehudi Menuhin made the first complete recording of the Sonatas and Partitas, between 1929 and 1936, they have become a staple during violin recitals, on disc and in concert. Fascinating performers and audiences alike with their architectural perfection as well as their emotional range, these are works that lend themselves to very different interpretations, and on this recording it is the Bach of Finnish violinist Jaakko Kuusisto we hear. Himself a composer – as well as violinist and conductor – Kuusisto remembers beginning to study individual movements from the set at the age of ten. The music has been with him ever since, and to him ‘no other works for the violin provide a higher challenge or greater beauty’.
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Gavle Symphony Orchestra, Jaakko Kuusisto – Song of the Scarlet Flower (Full Score to the 1919 Film) (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:39:34 minutes | 1,60 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Ondine
This release includes the world première recording of the full orchestral score written by Armas Järnefelt (18691958) for Mauritz Stillers silent film Song of the Crimson Flower (1919) performed by Gävle Symphony Orchestra under Jaakko Kuusisto. Armas Järnefelt today largely known in music literature only as Sibelius brother-in-law became one of the most remarkable Finnish orchestral composers during the 1890s. The composer wrote several symphonic poems and orchestral suites in his young age which were highly successful and widely performed by various orchestras in his home country. However, for reasons unknown, Järnefelt decided to devote himself to conducting. In the years to follow, Järnefelt moved to Sweden and become a highly-esteemed conductor. Some of Järnefelts miniatures became hits for salon orchestras in Europe, such as his Berceuse, but this recording makes more justice to a largely forgotten Nordic composer. In 1919, Finnish-born film director Mauritz Stiller approached Armas Järnefelt and commissioned him to write an orchestral score for his silent film Song of the Scarlet Flower (Sången om den eldröda blomman), based on a novel by Finnish author Johannes Linnankoski. Järnefelt made great efforts for the project and as a result, wrote a large 100-minute orchestral score. The work can be considered as his final orchestral masterpiece and a pioneer work in film music. The film was a huge hit and went on to be screened in more than 40 countries in addition to Sweden. It was also the first ever Nordic feature-length film to have a full-length original score written for it. Järnefelts score was lost for a long time, although he did conduct a recording of extracts from the score in 1931. In the 1980s the original score was rediscovered among the possessions of Järnefelts relatives. Järnefelts score was augmented and restored by Jani Kyllönen and Jaakko Kuusisto for the present recording.
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Jaakko Kuusisto, Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Osmo Vänskä – Einojuhani Rautavaara: The Journey (2004)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 56:41 minutes | 510 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © BIS
Einojuhani Rautavaara, the grand old man of Finnish music, became instantly famous when his 7th Symphony, Angel of Light (BIS-CD- 1038), became a great success in Europe and the USA. The composer’s highly individual mix of modernism, mystical romanticism and love of the natural world has struck a deep chord with the audiences, and what in a Gramophone review of a recent disc of his songs (BIS-CD-1141) was called “Rautavaara’s genius as a communicator” will be obvious in the present programme too.
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