Olari Elts

Superb performances by Elina Vähälä and Jonathan Roozeman confirm the idiomatic nature of Aho’s writing (having tried out the solo parts himself), and Olari Elts secures a committed response... — Gramophone Magazine, May 2023 More…

The works are markedly different in character, yet both exhibit an underlying enigmatic quality against which an array of moods and textures are explored through an ever-changing post-tonal... — BBC Music Magazine, March 2022, 4 out of 5 stars (Performance) / 5 out of 5 stars (Recording) More…

[Twilight and Dawn] have long been familiar through Neeme Järvi’s Chandos recordings but the greater refinement of playing and sensitivity of Elts’s readings are their own justification. Certainly... — Gramophone Magazine, January 2020 More…

If I appear to be in the minority in continuing to view the late Saariaho’s output as a very mixed bag, there’s music on this valuable disc that I’ll return to while it reminds me, again, how... — Gramophone Magazine, March 2024 More…

[Shostakovich] Hemsing is as fine in the third movement as the first in progressively ratcheting up the tension before easing down into the cadenza, which in turn grows steadily to a searing... — The Strad, May 2018 More…

Brought vividly to life by the 41-piece Tapiola Sinfonietta under fellow Estonian, conductor Olari Elts all three works share a kinship in dynamic, flowing structures generated from often small... — BBC Music Magazine, June 2018, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Estonian composer Heino Eller was a wonderful orchestrator, as revealed in these beautiful, if slightly forgettable, works. Skride, Elts and co, however, give the strongest advocacy for them... — BBC Music Magazine, February 2019, 4 out of 5 stars More…

[Glanert's arrangement] manages to be teasing and stirring at the same time...Kriikku's playing is a delight. — BBC Music Magazine, April 2017, 4 out of 5 stars More…