Pekka Kuusisto, Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra & Malin Broman – Recharged by nature (2023) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Pekka Kuusisto, Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra & Malin Broman – Recharged by nature (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:10:15 minutes | 1,43 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Alba Records

The second joint album of the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra (OCO) and its artistic director, Malin Broman. ‘Recharged by nature’ contains music from some of today’s most interesting composer names on the Sweden-Finland axis. For all works, it is a first recording.

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Sharon Bezaly, Julie Palloc, Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, Juha Kangas – Mozart: Complete Works for Flute and Orchestra (2008) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Sharon Bezaly, Julie Palloc, Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, Juha Kangas – Mozart: Complete Works for Flute and Orchestra (2008)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:21:52 minutes | 733 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © BIS Records

When the greater part of the programme on this disc was released as the BIS 2005 Catalogue Disc, the response was electrifying. Sharon Bezaly was described as ‘God’s gift to the flute’ in The Times (UK), and a quote from the review in BBC Music Magazine is representative: ‘Bezaly’s exquisite, technically immaculate, compelling playing sets new standards in this repertoire, as do Kalevi Aho’s stunning cadenzas, composed especially for this recording.’ Other reviewers agreed, and the disc received top marks in Le Monde de la Musique, Crescendo, Musica and other magazines as well as on radio stations and web sites such as Classics Today. This staggeringly successful title – 145 000 copies sold worldwide! – is now made available again with the important inclusion of a newly made recording of the Concerto for Flute and Harp. At a session in October 2007, we reunited the performers and recording crew of the 2005 disc in the original venue, with the addition of the eminent harpist Julie Palloc as co-soloist. Furthermore, Finnish composer Kalevi Aho again provided the cadenzas for the work, as he had for the other concertos on the disc. The result is not to be missed – a 24 carat, complete collection of all Mozart’s works for flute and orchestra, on a hybrid SACD with the extremely generous playing time of 81 minutes and 52 seconds!

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Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, Juha Kangas – Wiljami Niittykoski: Works for String Orchestra (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, Juha Kangas - Wiljami Niittykoski: Works for String Orchestra (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz] Download

Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, Juha Kangas – Wiljami Niittykoski: Works for String Orchestra (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:02:28 minutes | 1,13 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Alba

Composer, poet and folk fiddler, Wiljami Niittykoski (1895–1985) came from the Kaustinen village of Salonkylä in Western Finland, a region renowned for its lively folk music tradition. With the Kaustinen Folk Music Festival first held in the 1960s and the new folk music era he came to be an artist famous and popular the length and breadth of Finland. As a young man, he initially made a living as a joiner, then by tending the farm hacked out of the wilds by his parents where he spent his whole long life.
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Sakari Oramo, Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra – Russian Masquerade (2019) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Sakari Oramo, Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra – Russian Masquerade (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 59:27 minutes | 1,12 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © BIS

Composed in Russia between 1884 and 1917, the four works appearing on this disc all do so in some kind of disguise. Prokofiev and Scriabin both conceived their respective collections for the piano, and it is later arrangers that have adapted them for string orchestra. Rudolf Barshai took on Prokofiev’s Visions Fugitives in 1962, selecting 15 of the 20 brief pieces and arranging them for his own ensemble, the Moscow Chamber Orchestra. Scriabin’s Preludes received a similar treatment in 1999 when the Finnish composer Jouni Kaipainen chose 13 from the original 24, rearranging the order they appear in and transposing them in some cases. As for Anton Arensky (1861—1909), he composed his set of variations as the third movement of a string quartet, taking the theme from a song by Tchaikovsky and letting it undergo a series of transformations. Cheered by the success of the piece, he made his own arrangement for larger forces, a version which remains one of his best-known works. Tchaikovsky’s Elegy, finally, is actually heard here as it was composed, in 1884, but the piece saw the light of day as ‘A Thankful Greeting’ and was renamed ‘Elegy’ only at the time of publication, before making a final reappearance, as part of the composer’s music to Hamlet. The four works are performed by the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, one of Finland’s finest ensembles, conducted by its artistic director Sakari Oramo.

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Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, Malin Broman – Stockholm Diary (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, Malin Broman - Stockholm Diary (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz] Download

Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, Malin Broman – Stockholm Diary (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:11:02 minutes | 1,43 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Alba

Celebrating its 50th anniversary, the Ostrobothnia Chamber Orchestra and its artistic director Malin Broman have released their first joint album. Stockholm Diary includes Arnold Schönberg’s cult work Verklärte Nacht as well as premiere recording of Esa-Pekka Salonen’s ‘Stockholm Diary’. The Ostrobothnia Chamber Orchestra is conducted by Malin Broman, a Swedish violinist who is also the violin and viola soloist on the album. The unifying factor in the album is not only Schönberg’s work Verklärte Nacht, but also the city of Los Angeles. ‘The composers of the album, Schönberg, Salonen and Stravinsky, have all been in Los Angeles at some point, so the name of the album could just as well have been LA Diary,’ laughs Malin Broman.
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