Anssi

Four premier recordings add up to a generous dose of Magnus Lindberg's orchestral mastery, served up in lovingly prepared, magnificently engineered performances by the composer's friend and longtime champion Esa-Pekka Salonen. Within just a few minutes into Cantigas, you're swept up by swirling pools of color chords, ticklish brass flurries both muted and open, and chattering, petulant rhythmic figures that bounce off a pliable canvas of dense sonorities.

The Finnish Baroque Orchestra (= FIBO) was founded by harpsichordist Anssi Mattila in 1989. For twenty years it was called The Sixth Floor Orchestra. The Finnish Baroque Orchestra consists of musicians well versed in the performance practice of early music and the instruments for which each type of music was written. In addition to all the major Finnish music festivals the orchestra has appeared in many parts of Europe.

The rules of the game were clear when the credits for the soundtrack of Aki Kaurismäki's debut film Crime and Punishment gave the names Franz Schubert, Dmitri Shostakovich, Olavi Virta, the Renegades, Harri Marstio and Billie Holiday. Dostoevskian to say the least! Added to these as Kaurismaki’s career progressed were Tchaikovsky (the Pathetique Symphony a dozen or so times!), Shostakovich, Chuck Berry, the great Estonian Georg Ots, rhythm & blues, Finnish rock’n’roll (Melrose, with Tokela in the vocal lead), Jussi Bjorling, and Toshitake Shinohara - the Japanese composer of a host of beautiful scores now settled permanently in Karkkila, home of Kaurismäki himself. Not all are familiar to a non-Finnish audience. Yet Finn and foreigner, familiar and unfamiliar are as such one seamless entity, their associations equally fascinating. The director himself says he grabs armfuls of discs off his shelf at home before setting off for the editing room.

Jennifer Koh, a brilliant violinist (The New Yorker) who performs with conviction, ferocity, and an irresistible sense of play (Washington Post), showcases works by Kaija Saariaho, the visionary and influential Finnish composer with whom Koh has closely collaborated and feels a deep personal bond. The album offers the world-premiere recording of Saariahos Light and Matter for violin, cello, and piano, inspired by sunlit colors and shadows in a city park outside the composers window. Also receiving its first recording is the violin and cello version of Aure, meaning a gentle breeze, created for and dedicated to Koh and cellist Anssi Karttunen, another champion of Saariahos music.