Marko Rubel

Tallinn Chamber Orchestra’s album “Pēteris Vasks”. The publication includes two string concertos by Latvian-born composer Pēteris Vasks, the first of which is “Concerto No. 2 “Klātbūtne” for Cello and String Orchestra” – a three-part concerto for cello and string orchestra. Marko Ylönen will perform as a cello soloist on the recording. The second work on the album is the four-part “Concerto for Viola and String Orchestra” that features viola player Lilli Maijala as soloist. The orchestra is conducted by Juha Kangas.

In the booklet note for this release, Pehr Hendrik Nordgren is considered “among the most outstanding masters of this grossly underrated generation”, that is, the generation that fell outside the avant-garde wave of famous names born in the 1920s, and those who reacted against atonality and returned to tradition and easily recognisable genres such as minimalism. Nordgren has done well in numerous recordings on the Alba label and elsewhere, BIS and Finlandia to name two, but still doesn’t really have ‘household name’ status. Both As in a Dream and the Concerto for Viola, Double Bass and Chamber Orchestra Op. 87 are world premiere recordings.