Spano, Robert Sibelius

Jennifer Higdon is a masterful colorist whose music is immediately appealing, full of energy and dash, but also with lyrical movements that grab you and hold your interest with their variety and melodic freshness. She can be brassy and bold like William Schuman and lushly Romantic like Samuel Barber, to mention just two American predecessors her music calls to mind. She also has a strong profile of her own, as we hear in City Scapes, a musical portrait of Atlanta that captures the bustle of a metropolis on the move. It's centerpiece, "river sings a song to trees," is wonderfully paced and engrossing. Concerto for Orchestra is a grand workout for a virtuoso band, teeming with solo turns that can tax all but the best musicians, and passages that spotlight sections of the orchestra with opportunities to strut their stuff. It's a brilliant piece brilliantly played by the Atlantans. Add Telarc's usual terrific sound and this disc becomes a must for fans of accessible modern music.

Pulitzer Prize- and three-time GRAMMY award-winning composer, Jennifer Higdon, continues to write what the Chicago Sun-Times describes as music “both modern and timeless”. Duo Duel for two pitched percussion instruments and orchestra is a double concerto of scintillating, high-speed virtuosity: “don’t blink – you might miss something!” she advises the listener. Concerto for Orchestra demands the utmost in technical accomplishment from all members of the orchestra. The first movement was written last to give a clearer picture of what was needed to start a work that is both an orchestral celebration and a true virtuoso tour-de-force.

Fredrik Pacius (1809–1891), Robert Kajanus (1856–1933) and Jean Sibelius (1865–1957) remain three of the most influential figures in Finnish classical music history. Pacius laid the foundation and set Finland on a path towards a developed musical culture. Kajanus founded the orchestra which today is known as the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and was a leading figure of Finland’s musical scene for fifty years. Sibelius took Finnish music to new heights and has been widely regarded as Finland's greatest composer.

This double CD from EMI features the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra conducted by their Finnish principal conductor at the time (1970s), Paavo Berglund. It doesn't have to be that a conductor originates from the same country as the composer whose works he or she is conducting, but it often happens that this combination seems to produce performances of greatest sensitivity. So it is here, as Berglund conducts 10 works by Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. The discs include quite familiar works like En Saga, one of Sibelius' first compositions when he was in his late 20s. We also have Pohjola's Daughter, The Bard and two of the four Lemminkäinen Legends, and a beautiful version of Luonnotar sung by the Finnish soprano Taru Valjakka. The rest of the discs is made up of less frequently heard pieces. We have the five-movement suite from the incidental music Sibelius wrote for Adolf Paul's play King Christian II (1898); the Spring Song (Vårsång) of 1894; the suite of incidental music from Maeterlinck's Pelleas and Melisande.

This collection of recordings illuminates two different sides of violinist Tasmin Little’s accomplished playing. While the Brahms and Sibelius Concertos are a testament to her technical skill and breadth of expression, the Pärt works display a more pared-back approach, making full use of Little’s pure and resonant tone.

British orchestras and their audiences have long held a special affinity for the orchestral works of Jean Sibelius, and the Hallé's venerable tradition of playing his music continues in this superb recording of the Symphony No. 5 in E flat major, the Symphony No. 7 in C major, and the symphonic poem En Saga. Mark Elder's straightforward interpretations are clear-headed and meticulous yet intensely passionate, and the orchestra responds to his direction by digging deep and playing with a commitment that is nearly perceptible. These symphonies and En Saga are representative of Sibelius' mature style, so their deliberate pacing and steady unfolding of motives into organic developments over long time spans require attentive listening, but the clarity of Elder's readings makes the progress of the music easy to follow. Add to this the exceptional reproduction, which brings out every detail with crispness, and presents the Hallé's warm and rich sonorities with credible presence, and the end result is a nearly ideal presentation of Sibelius' music.

Here is the first recording ever of the so-called Press Celebrations Music of 1899. Sibelius subsequently reworked and rescored the music later that same year in what became the first set of the Scenes historiques, Op. 25 and Finlandia, Op. 26, but here we have the first opportunity of hearing Sibelius’s original thoughts, as well as the Prelude, and the two movements that remained in manuscript. They are the second tableau, ‘The Finns are baptised’, and the fifth, ‘The Great Unrest’ or ‘Hostility’, referring to the so-called Great Northern War that followed the Russian capture of Viipuri in 1710 and the subsequent decline of Swedish power.

Finnish baritone Arttu Kataja fell in love with Lied music in his first singing lessons at the age of 16 but the idea of his own Lied record was born only after he had worked as a professional for years. The collaboration with pianist Pauliina Tukiainen had already begun years earlier, and the joint record project also felt natural. Both artists have roots and identity in Finland, but both have grown up in the profession and worked in Germany for years. In addition, both Kataja and Tukiainen share a passionate and uncom-promising attitude towards Lied music. In recent years, the couple has given concerts not only in Central Europe but also in Helsinki, where their interpretation of Schubert's Winterreis was a critical success. They will start the 2020/2021 season with a Lied concert at the Berlin State Opera.

Conductor Robert Trevino's fourth album release on Ondine is focused on the late works of composer Einojuhani Rautavaara (1928-2016), one of Finland's most celebrated composers after Sibelius and known worldwide for his Neo-Romantic, even mystic compositions. Together with violinist Simone Lamsma and the Malmö Symphony Orchestra the artists are presenting four final orchestral works by the celebrated composer. Two of the works are world premiere recordings. In his late period, Rautavaara received several communications from the world's leading violinists requesting him to write works for them. He was able to oblige them, creating several extensive works featuring solo violin. Fantasia (2015) for violin and orchestra is a work of soft Neo-Romantic harmonies and soaring melodic lines. In 2014, Rautavaara was asked to write a new Violin Concerto.