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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Kalevi Aho: Oboe Concerto & Sonata
Kalevi Aho enjoys large-scale projects. One such project has been his ‘oboe project’, composing works in every genre for the instrument. The concerto is of particular interest being influenced by Arabic scales and Aho’s use of a fresh tonal approach. “There’s a chamber-like intensity to this concerto – a heightened instrumental clarity if you will – and oboist Piet Van Bockstal is a gentle and evocative soloist throughout...Fine music and musicianship, faithfully caught; what BIS does best.” MusicWeb International, 15th May 2013 | 
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| |  | Anu Komsi: Coloratura
Anu Komsi, Finland’s ‘coloratura assoluta’, here presents a wide-ranging programme, from mad scenes and rage arias from 18th- and 19th-century operas, to Alyabyev’s ever-soaring Nightingale and the silvery tinkling of Lakmé’s Bell Song. Komsi also performs later examples of coloratura, including Glière’s glittering Concerto for coloratura and orchestra, and La Machine de l’être by the composer John Zorn – a work which she premiered in New York City in 2011. The disc closes with a thoroughly idiomatic performance of Sibelius’ Luonnotar, with its text from the Finnish national epos Kalevala. Throughout the programme, Anu Komsi is supported by the Lahti Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sakari Oramo. “Anu Komsi's cosmopolitan experience and technical expertise show in the breadth and quality of her programme. And Sakari Oramo makes much of her accompaniments.” BBC Music Magazine, March 2013 *** “Are coloratura soprano showcases ever supposed to be this provocative?...Placing Gliere and Zorn on the same disc is a brilliant stroke of programming. Komsi is at her inventive best in creating subtexts to the wordless vocal lines, suggesting a sunny lifetime of experience in Gliere...[Her] artistry comes together fully in Sibelius's Luonnotar” Gramophone Magazine, January 2013 | | | (also available to download from $10.50) | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Kalevi Aho: Piano Concerto No. 2 & Symphony No. 13
With fifteen symphonies in his work list to date, as well as numerous other orchestral pieces, Kalevi Aho is one of today's most important composers of orchestral music. Twelve of the symphonies have already been released on BIS, in recordings that have earned an ever-growing interest. recent discs have been met with acclaim, for instance in the International Record Review where Symphony No.12 (‘Luosto') was described as ‘music of such graphic impact and visually arresting imagery that it feels as though you could reach out and touch it'. Symphony No.13 was written for the fifth anniversary of the Sibelius Hall in Lahti in 2003, and exploits the acoustic capabilities of the hall to the full. Subtitled ‘Symphonic Characterizations', the work portrays a spectrum of human character types in two long movements divided into a number of shorter sections. One year before the symphony Kalevi Aho completed his Second Piano Concerto, for piano and string orchestra. It was written with the Finnish pianist Antti Siirala in mind, and in the composer's own words ‘the demanding piano writing is primarily a consequence of Siirala's remarkable command of the ‘Beethovenian-Lisztian-Brahmsian' pianistic tradition.' “Both pieces are classics examples of Aho's more recent manner, and a truly engaging manner it is, especially in the hands of such committed performers as these” Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2010 “[the orchestra] give Osmo Vänskä performances of utter commitment. Antii Siirala brings playing that is both sparkling and meaty to the Concerto, and it goes without saying that the BIS recording is both transparent and full-bodied. Strongly recommended.” International Record Review, October 2010 “It's a strange, sometimes strenuous work, recycling material from Aho's opera The Book of Secrets and echoing a surprising range of 20th-century composers, both European and American. There's something of the character of a concerto for orchestra about it and Vänskä's band makes the most of that” The Guardian, 2nd September 2010 *** “The orchestral playing is impressive and conductor Osmo Vänskä shapes a cohesive narrative...Antti Siirala is eloquent too in the concerto” The Telegraph, 20th August 2010 *** | | | (also available to download from $10.50) | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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BIS releases the first recording on CD of Kalevi Aho’s Symphony No.12 - ‘Luosto’. It was written for a performance on the slopes of Mount Luosto in Finnish Lapland. It makes use of two orchestras, two vocal soloists and a number of brass players and percussionists placed at various distances from each other and the conductor, surrounding the audience. The primary inspiration for this four-movement work came from the natural surroundings and traditions of Lapland, and parts of it were composed during a bitterly cold spell in the solitude of a cottage at the foot of Orresokka, the mountain next to Luosto. The three-dimensional qualities written into the score makes it the perfect subject for a Surround Sound recording and during the recording sessions in the acclaimed acoustics of the Lahti Sibelius Hall, great pains were taken to recreate the set-up of the first performance. This took place in 2003, in front of – or rather around – an audience of over 2000 people, and became the starting point of ‘LuostoClassic’, an annual summer music festival which in 2008 features another performance of Aho’s symphony. “Like Vaughan Williams's Seventh, Aho's Twelfth is a work of immediate effect yet needs time to make its full impact.” Gramophone Magazine, October 2008 | | | (also available to download from $10.50) | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Sibelius - The Origin of Fire
world première recordings “Of the many Sibelius works inspired by the Kalevala (the Finnish national epic poem), The Origin of Fire remains one of the least familiar and yet most riveting. Tommi Hakala (the 2003 Cardiff Singer of the World) is in magnificent voice, as are the choir of Helsinki University.” Gramophone Magazine, August 2007 | | | (also available to download from $10.50) | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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“Vänskä is undoubtedly a Sibelian of strong instinct, and his Kullervo enshrines an interpretation of extraordinary grandeur and slumbering, runic mystery. After an ideally paced opening Allegro moderato (the Lahti strings lacking just a touch in sheer muscle), 'Kullervo's Youth' lasts an eyebrow-raising 19'18", well over three minutes longer than any predecessor. Courageously, Vänskä sticks to his guns, the music's unnervingly tragic portents distilled with mournful gravity. It's in the big central scena that BIS's sumptuously realistic and wide-ranging production really comes into its own. Vänskä directs with keen observation and tingling narrative flair, not missing the wondrous poetry of the nature music accompanying the lament of Kullervo's sister. What's more, his soloists and chorus are first-rate, though baritone Raimo Laukka isn't quite as fresh-voiced here as he was for Segerstam's in 1994. Following a splendidly lusty 'Kullervo goes to War', Vänskä crowns proceedings with a thrillingly grim and inevitable 'Kullervo's Death', with eloquent contributions from the men of the Helsinki University Chorus. As should be clear by now, this recording must feature high on any short list.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 | | | (also available to download from $10.50) | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | (including original versions and appendices)
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| |  | Sibelius - Symphonies Nos. 1 & 4
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| |  | Sibelius - The Wood-Nymph
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