Harri Ahmas is a composer, principal bassoonist with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra and an active chamber musician both at home in Finland and abroad. Among the works composed by Ahmas are three symphonies, seven concertos and two chamber operas (Heart Streams and the Snake Ring). In the composers own words - “The story of my chamber opera started with the touching and intricate poetical work Käärmesormus (Snake Ring) by Tittamari Marttinen, which mezzo soprano Ulla Raiskio had found and was impressed with.
As for the Masses, Mozart kept to the traditional plan in six sections (Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus, Agnus Dei), even when the inpression is that the sections are more numerous (as many as 21 in the "Orphanage" Mass), it is actually a matter of sub-sections, of varying number according to the requirements of the particular work, including famous and impressive settings of the 'Laudamus te' and 'Et incarnatus est'.
In 2007, the 50th anniversary of Sibelius’s death, BIS begins the release of a 13-volume edition of all the music that the great master ever created – from the symphonies and tone poems to chamber works and songs. As well as the published works, the edition includes rare original versions and world première recordings of works from his youth – material which to a large extent is unique to BIS. The edition – a grand total of some 65 discs – contains previously released as well as new material, in volumes of 4-6 discs sorted by genre.
This collection brings together three much sought-after recordings by Steve Kuhn: the solo piano album “Ecstasy” (recorded 1974), and two quartet albums. “Motility” (1977) features the band of the same name with saxophonist Steve Slagle in the front line, while “Playground” (1979) is the album that introduced the Steve Kuhn-Sheila Jordan Quartet. Singer Jordan is of course one of the great jazz vocalists, and this was an inspired teaming. Kuhn himself is a superlative pianist of vast gifts; each of these recordings illuminates another aspect of his work. Of these three discs only “Ecstasy” was previously available on compact disc, and then only in Japan. “Motility” and “Playground” here receive their first CD releases.