Veli-Matti Puumala The music is the man - Gehrmans Musikförlag

n o r d i c
HIGHLIGHTS 3/2013
N E W S L E T T E R F R O M G E H R M A N S M U S I K F Ö R L A G & F E N N I C A G E H R M A N
The music is the man
Anders Eliasson 1947-2013
Veli-Matti Puumala
– a master of time

N E W S
Sibelius first edition
Fennica Gehrman has published A Theme
and Variations for solo cello by Jean
Sibelius. This is a first edition and has
been edited by pianist Folke Gräsbeck.
Sibelius composed it in summer 1887,
when he was 21, but it appears never to
have been performed in public during his
lifetime. It was first heard in a concert in
Finland in 1995, and Torleif Thedéen
recorded it for BIS the following year.
Sibelius’s Theme and Variations owes
much to Bach in terms of its style, although
the theme on which the variations are based
has a certain Finnish-Nordic flavour.
Staern’s busy 2014
Spring 2014 will see a number
of Benjamin Staern premieres.
He is just now composing Sånger
om bländvit kärlek (Songs of
Dazzlingly White Love), a song
cycle to texts by Karin Boye, for alto
Anna Larsson and the Helsingborg
Symphony Orchestra, to be
premiered on 14 April. It will
be followed by the premiere of a
work for chamber ensemble, live
electronics, video, and real-time
visuals, at NorrlandsOperan in
Umeå on 8 May. Conducted by
Marc Soustrot the Malmö Symphony
Orchestra will give the
world premiere of Godai –Concerto
for Orchestra on 14 May.
Next in turn is a 30-minute orchestral
work, a commission from
the Royal Swedish Academy of
Music, for the Gävle, Helsingborg
and Norrköping Symphony
Orchestras.
Photo: Liselotte Graversen
Rautavaara’s All-night Vigil on TV
The Helsinki Chamber Choir gave five performances of Einojuhani Rautavaara’s
All-night Vigil during its September tour of Finland. The
Choir was conducted by Nils Schweckendiek and the soloists were Niall
Chorell, tenor, and Jyrki Korhonen, bass. One of the concerts was filmed
by Yle and will be shown on Finnish TV on 5 October. In November
there will also be a TV broadcast by ARTE.
The tour was a celebration of Rautavaara’s 85th birthday (9 October).
Several orchestras will also be featuring works by him during the autumn. A
birthday concert will also be given at the University of Oulu on 7 October.
Two focus concerts in November
In Helsinki there are concerts presenting music by Lars Karlsson and
Erik Bergman. Choral and chamber music and a song cycle with orchestral
accompaniment by Karlsson will be heard at the Sibelius Academy
on 8 November (See: premieres). The Helsinki Chamber Choir performs
works by Bergman and enchantingly contrasts them with ones
by Gesualdo at a concert given on 17 November.
Photo: Markku Pihlaja
n o r d i c
HIGHLIGHTS 3/2013
NEWSLET TER FROM GEHRMANS MUSIKFÖRLAG & FENNICA GEHRMAN
Sound samples , video clips
and other material are available at
www.gehrmans.se/highlights
www.fennicagehrman.fi/highlights
Cover photos: Veli-Matti Puumala (Music Finland/
Saara Vuorjoki), Anders Eliasson (Tony Lundman),
Helsinki Chamber Choir (Markku Pihlaja)
Editors: Henna Salmela and Kristina Fryklöf
Translations: Susan Sinisalo and Robert Carroll
Design: Göran Lind
ISSN 2000-2742 (Print), ISSN 2000-2750 (Online)
Printed in Sweden by TMG Sthlm, Bromma 2013
Heiniö & the Key Ensemble
The Key Ensemble, one of Finland’s top vocal groups,
has recorded two works by Mikko Heiniö. The Missa
Baltica disc featuring his Luceat has been well received
abroad. Last year it was voted the best classical
album in the Contemporary A Cappella Recording
Award competition in the USA, and according to a
Gramophone review, Heiniö’s Luceat is the real climax
of the disc. His Maria Suite is one of the items on a
new choral CD scheduled for release in October.
The Key Ensemble conducted by Teemu
Honkanen also performed works by Heiniö at festivals
in Finland in summer 2013. In October, the
Ensemble will be singing in the finals of the 2013 Let
the Peoples Sing competition.
Photo: Jussi Vierimaa
H i g h l i g h t s 3 / 2 0 1 3

Pettersson release in Norrköping
Christian Lindberg, the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra and BIS
Records continue their promotion of Allan Pettersson’s music, with
concert performances and recordings of Symphonies Nos. 4 and 16.
In connection with the concert (31 Oct), the CD with Pettersson’s
monumental Symphony No. 9, recorded in Norrköping last autumn,
will be released together with a bonus DVD including the Pettersson
documentary “Människans röst” (The Human Voice).
Ville Matvejeff, Jorma Hynninen & Kimmo Hakola
An autumn of Hakola stage works
Works by Kimmo Hakola are being staged in several
Finnish towns during this year. His opera Akseli premiered
in February 2013 has led to no fewer than six
more performances during autumn: two at the Turku
Music Festival, and the others in Joensuu, Kuusamo
and Hämeenlinna, and in Lahti in December. Akseli
is a monologue opera and marks the operatic swansong
of baritone Jorma Hynninen.
Hakola’s children’s opera Mara and Katti is also in
the autumn repertoire: Taite performed it in Espoo
in August and there were two performances at the
Tampere Hall in September.
New commissions
Rolf Martinsson will compose an opera in four acts
based on Joseph Conrad’s short story Amy Foster.
Stephen Plaice is writing the libretto (in English)
to the opera, which is commissioned by the Royal
Swedish Opera in Stockholm.
Tobias Broström has recently finished his String
Quartet No. 1, commissioned by the New York based
Brooklyn Rider. It will be premiered during their tour
of Scandinavia in early 2014.
Photo: Seilo Ristimäki
A Freak in Burbank receives
six national premieres
Albert Schnelzer’s concert opener A Freak in
Burbank continues its advance throughout the
world with six national premieres from October till
May 2014. Thomas Dausgaard will conduct the
work with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
in Glasgow and the French premiere with the Chamber
Orchestra of Europe at Opera de Dijon. Stefan
Solyom will lead Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto
in the Italian premiere and Sinfonia Lahti in the
Finnish premiere. Finally Mark Wigglesworth will
direct the US premiere with the Utah Symphony
Orchestra in Salt Lake City, as well as the Australian
premiere with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
Miss Julie in Paris
Birgit Cullberg
Opera National de Paris is staging the ballet Miss Julie
in Birgit Cullberg’s classical choreography, to music by
Ture Rangström (orchestrated by Hans Grossman).
There will be a total of 15 performances between 21
February and 13 March 2014. Cullberg’s production of
August Strindberg’s play is a harsh show down behind
closed doors between an aristocratic young woman and
her servant, including both seduction and humiliation.
The ballet had its premiere in 1950 and is reckoned as
the first Swedish modern dance drama.
Photo: Ragnild Haarstad/Scanpix
P r e m i e r e s
Autumn 2013
Sven-David Sandström
Five Pieces for String Quintet
Uppsala Chamber Soloists
8.9. Uppsala, Sweden
Four Pieces for String Quartet
Stenhammar Quartet
8.10. Stockholm, Sweden
Olli Kortekangas
Seven Songs for Planet Earth
Tampere PO, Tampere Philharmonic Choir, San Francisco
Choral Society etc./Jani Sivén, sol. Tuija Knihtilä, mezzosoprano,
Aarne Pelkonen, baritone
13.9. Tampere, Finland (Finnish premiere)
Adventus (suite for organ),
Five Christmas Song Arrangements
Tiina-Maija Koskela, soprano, Nicholas Söderlund, bassbaritone,
Tuomas Tainio, percussion, Kari Vuola, organ
8.12. Naantali, Finland
Veli-Matti Puumala
Rime
Ostrobothnian ChO/Tuomas Hannikainen
20.9. Kokkola, Finland
Johan Ullén
Lady Macbeth
Swedish ChO/Gerard Korsten, sol. Katarina Karnéus,
mezzo-soprano
3.10. Örebro, Sweden
Kimmo Hakola
Music for the film Tukkijoella
(Musiikkia elokuvaan Tukkijoella)
Finnish RSO/Santtu-Matias Rouvali
11.10. Helsinki, Finland
De kaspiska tigrarnas Gud
Chorus Sanctae Ceciliae
22.11. Helsinki, Finland
Jonas Valfridsson
A Fragmented Memory, My Overgrown
Little Tree House
Jönköping Sinfonietta/Hannu Koivula
27.10 Jönköping, Sweden
Lars Karlsson
Sju sånger till texter av Pär Lagerkvist
(Seven Songs to Texts by Pär Lagerkvist)
Wegelius String Orchestra/Arturo Alvarado,
sol. Gabriel Suovanen, baritone
8.11. Helsinki, Finland
Kai Nieminen
Symphony – La Selva
Sinfonia Finlandia Jyväskylä/Patrick Gallois
13.11. Jyväskylä, Finland
Publishing agreement with Tiina Myllärinen
Fennica Gehrman has signed a publishing agreement with Tiina Myllärinen for two orchestral works
and her Squarcio for ensemble. Born in 1979, Myllärinen is a freelance composer working for a doctorate
at the Sibelius Academy. She has composed orchestral, choral, chamber and solo works and experimented
with electronic music. Outside Finland works by her have been performed in the United States,
Italy, Germany, Lithuania, Iceland and Norway. Among those who have commissioned works from her
are the Helsinki Chamber Choir, the Time of Music festival, the Polytech Choir (PK) and the “ja kitara
soi” guitar festival. Myllärinen’s music has been described as cheerfully inquisitive, vigorous and original.
She has recently developed an interest in the application and study of various acoustic phenomena, such
as resonance, in her music.
Photo: Mika Kirsi
H i g h l i g h t s 3 / 2 0 1 3

Composer Veli-Matti Puumala
(b. 1965), Professor at the Sibelius
Academy and winner of the prestigious
Finnish Teosto Prize, has set out to alter
our concept of time. In his music, the
seconds measured by the clock fuse with
an inner, empirical perception of time.
Photo: Music Finland/Saara Vuorjoki
Veli-Matti Puumala
– a master of time
As one of his pupils, I have been in a position to
engage in some profound conversations with Veli-
Matti Puumala on sometimes surprising subjects.
One day, for example, it was – ice-hockey. I had
been sneering at Finland’s national sport in the
manner of a true cultural snob when he looked at
me and said: “Ice-hockey’s a fine game. It moulds
your concept of time. Minutes can pass without
anything really happening, and then suddenly
every thing is electrified for five seconds and someone
scores a goal.”
Listening to Puumala’s music likewise moulds
our concept of time. At the most magical moments,
time ceases to have any meaning, is transformed
into a nocturnal fragrance as in the closing Tra le
braccia della notte movement of his piano concerto
Seeds of Time .
A concerto of many dimensions
Seeds of Time was born in 2004 as a joint commission
from the Oulu, Helsingborg, Sjaelland
and Stavanger orchestras. Premiered with Swedish
virtuoso Roland Pöntinen as the soloist, it was
an immediate success and won Puumala the Teosto
Prize for 2005. A large-scale work lasting 40 minutes,
it poses no small challenge for its performers
but its astounding originality makes it all the more
rewarding.
The musical motifs of this concerto are drawn
from the most varied of worlds: modernistic filaments
of sound, piano textures with a whiff of
Roman ticism, even 1950s jazz. In Puumala’s case
these are not just stylistic allusions; they are a
means of creating several superimposed concepts
of time. Now and then, as right at the beginning
of the concerto, time comes to a complete halt in
static “windows”. According to Puumala, these
afford a view of a different time that stands still
and does not move.
Another thing that fascinates Puumala is
space. For many of his orchestral works, the
players can be placed unconventionally, thus
gene rating new aural impressions. The chamber
orchestra for Seeds of Time consists of small
groups of instruments from different families
playing material that is to a greater or lesser degree
uniform. For the performances conducted by
Susanna Mälkki the players sat in small groups,
whereas Hannu Lintu preferred a traditional
seating arrangement. In other words, the conductor
is free to choose.
Timelessness in twelve minutes
Mure (2008), composed for the Ensemble intercon
temporain and Susanna Mälkki in 2008,
divides the chamber orchestra into two groups.
Again, superimposed time planes are what interest
Puumala. The flowing runs in the “controlled
chaos” of the opening section are counteracted by
assertive comments from the brass and interjections
evocative of hi-hat jazz. The music arrives
at an unavoidable dead-end and a dramatic
silence broken by two bass-drum beats. An ethereal,
Puumala-ish episode then follows in which all
sense of time vanishes before stealthily returning
to a more active world. For Puumala, the journey
from time to timelessness is not impossible even in
a work lasting only 12 minutes.
Notwithstanding his infinite attention to
detail, Puumala also exploits the potential of a
large orchestra. Rope, premiered by the Finnish
Radio Symphony Orchestra under Hannu
Lintu in 2012, is scored for triple woodwinds,
a large brass section, strings, and a big battery
of percussion instruments complete with piano
and harp. The title evokes images of tight-rope
walking, but also of the sturdy ropes that fasten
ships. Once the stormy swell has abated, string
and brass waves shot with micro-intervals rock
the boat like heavy rollers from a distant ocean.
Delicate portraits of mourning
Ever since the 1990s, the music of Puumala has
often incorporated a modal element. The little
town, Kaustinen, where he was born hosts a big
folk music festival, and some may catch echoes of
this in his modernist idiom. Composed for the
Ostro bothnian Chamber Orchestra in 2008,
Memorial Fragment breaks folk music elements
down into their tiniest components. Little folkfiddle
pieces float like motes into a void, where they
are distorted into a delicate portrait of mourning.
Scored for string orchestra, Memorial Fragment
is a tribute to another Kaustinen composer, Pehr
Henrik Nordgren (1944–2008).
One of the most recent works by Puumala is
Tear, premiered by the Tapiola Sinfonietta in
March 2013. The name, he says, reflects tearing
strands woven into thin, rough, rustling textures.
It also calls to mind another meaning of the word:
deeply personal, tearful emotions. Players in the
medium-sized chamber orchestra are also singled
out as soloists as the work proceeds.
The line of orchestral compositions, starting
with the early Tutta via (1993) and continuing
with such works as Chainsprings (1995–
1997) recently released on CD by Alba along
with Seeds of Time, has seen some weighty additions
in the past few years. Veli-Matti Puumala
has rapidly become one of the leading Finnish
composers of orchestral literature.
L a u r i M ä n t y s a a r i
Footnote:
Puumala’s latest orchestral work Rime was premiered on
20 September by the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra
and Tuomas Hannikainen.
H i g h l i g h t s 3 / 2 0 1 23

The Swedish composer Anders Eliasson
passed away last spring after a protracted
illness. It was not only his native country
that lost a great composer – but the
whole musical world.
There are actually very few composers who have
been able to exhibit the same kind of intense proximity
to musical creation as Eliasson. When the
often restless, expressive music comes surging up
through the auditorium, Eliasson himself is present
in every passage, his breath is audible in every
phrase. The music is the man.
Eliasson’s music totally lacks the uneasy trendiness
that the musical world is otherwise inundated
with today – even the world of art music. In Eliasson’s
compositions there are no empty gestures,
no stolen phrases, no imitating dialects, there is no
posturing.
Neither did he himself put on airs, but throughout
his 66-year-long life he retained a sort of underdog
position – the result of a painful childhood
and a feeling of alienation, outside cliques and
prevailing compositional ideas. It seems only logical
that he, in a magnum opus such as the oratorio
Dante Anarca, let the words “debellare superbos”
(overthrow the haughty), grow to a crushing force
in a grinding climax.
“I want to flee into music”
During our many and lengthy conversations when
I was working on my biography of Eliasson and
his music, he often stressed that he could not have
survived without music; that he would hardly have
reached adulthood. These are words that might
hint at sentimentality and a kind of romanticizing
of the role of the artist, but in his personality
there was absolutely nothing of the sort. It was
simply a matter of how he experienced it, literally.
Music was his life’s mission – something which
perhaps contradicted another opinion that he has
expressed: “I should never have been born”.
One can of course feel that Anders Eliasson is
entirely out of keeping with the times in his sensitiveness,
candour and seriousness. I believe, too,
that this is how he experienced it himself, as if he
were a stranger among us. But in his musical creativity
he at the same time attained a refinement
which resulted in his musical “language” – formulated
in freely floating harmony with two ninetone
scales at bottom – serving as a kind of spiritual
abode for him, in sharp contrast to the everyday
toil. “I want to flee into music”, he said.
The music angel
Still, he claimed he was only music’s companion.
His subservience in respect to the essence of music
– “the music angel” as he called it – is perhaps hard
to comprehend when it comes to such an obvious
master as Anders Eliasson. “Music must be allowed
to generate itself ”, he declared. It was as though he
needed to have that perspective. He looked upon
music as a friend and confidante, but his respect
for it seemed nevertheless to prevent him from, as
Photo: Tony Lundman
The music
is the man
Anders Eliasson 1947-2013
a simple human being, placing himself entirely on
level with the wonders of music, that he even so
was unquestionably capable of attaining. He spoke
instead of being responsive and noting down the
music, with paper and pen, the moment that it
emerged in his inner being. It is indeed fantastic
how, for example, his very last work – the string
trio Ahnungen, which he composed only with great
difficulty during his last year – exhibits the very
same density and gushing power of expression that
we find in his other music – despite the many and
long interruptions caused by the cancer.
Toward the end he was reconciled with the idea
of dying. To be sure, he did want to compose the
5 th and 6 th symphonies, which were intended to
form a kind of triptych together with Symphony
No. 4. The quiet epilogue of this work, with a desolate,
cantabile solo for flugelhorn, was the door that
Music tips
Ostacoli (1987) was written for the Ostrobothnian Chamber
Orchestra. This is deeply moving, in places violently intense and
nervy music for string orchestra. The work was the beginning of
very fruitful relations with the Finnish musical scene.
Symphonies No. 1 (1986), No. 3 (1989) and No. 4 (2005) are all
magnificent examples of works in the genre. From the tense and
transparent atmospheres in Symphony No. 1 to the late Eliasson’s
Symphony No. 4, there is a development towards a softer flow and
simplicity. Symphony No. 3 is a “sinfonia concertante” for obbligato
alto saxophone; there is also a version for soprano saxophone
(2010) which has not yet been performed.
slowly opened up to the next symphonic room.
But death did not scare him. “It will be exciting
to die”, he said more than once, often with an
amusing smile and his characteristically peering
eyes. Of course, one might think that he said this
to mitigate the anxiety of those closest to him, but
I do believe that he honestly retained his curiosity
to his very last breath, on that Monday evening the
20 th of May this year.
T o n y Lu n d m a n
Author of the biography of Anders Eliasson (Bokförlaget
Atlantis, 2012) and editor at the Stockholm Concert Hall
Footnote:
Eliasson’s very last work, the string trio Ahnungen, will
be premiered by ZilliacusPerssonRaitinen on 10 February
2014 at the Stockholm Concert Hall.
Quartetto d’archi (1991) is one of Eliasson’s many exquisite chamber
works with a broad spectrum of expression, ranging from the forceful
and belligerent to the sensual and cantabile.
Dante Anarca (1998) is a mighty oratorio for soprano, contralto, tenor,
baritone, mixed choir and orchestra, set to a text in Italian by Giacomo
Oreglia. It is Eliasson’s magnum opus – an unmistakable masterpiece
that is filled to the brim with passion, distinctive character and beauty.
Concerto for Violin, Piano and Orchestra (2005) is a beautiful
example from the many solo concertos Eliasson wrote. This double
concerto, with an unusual combination of soloists, is music full of
dancing joie de vivre with supremely inspired orchestral elegance and
balance.
Photo: private
Photo: Bo-Aje Melin/SVT/TT
H i g h l i g h t s 3 / 2 0 1 3

R e p e r t o i r e t i p s
R E V I E W S
Wind and brass bands
Kalevi Aho
Concerto for Trumpet and Symphonic
Wind Band (2011) Dur: 31’
3333-4332-03-asax-tsax
This concerto is suitable for performance
at both wind band and symphony concerts. The first movement,
in particular, includes singing, lyrical music. The quick
second one has elements of jazz and is technically extremely
difficult: the soloist has to command such techniques as
glissando, note inflection, lip trills and pedal notes. Towards
the end, the concerto becomes more potent and dramatic,
and it is then that the solo part is most virtuosic.
HUGO ALFVÉN
Suite from the Mountain King
(1923/2004) Dur: 22’
Compilation and arr. Anders Högstedt
3282-4432-13-1-ssax-asax-tsax-bsax-euph-2db
The music to the ballet the Mountain King ranks among
Hugo Alfvén’s finest works, with its folkloristic motifs, enchanting
mysticism, nature lyricism and drama. This suite
contains seven depictive movements, including the frequently
performed, whirling and rhythmically lively Herd
Maiden’s Dance.
DANIEL BÖRTZ
Sinfonia 10 (1992) Dur: 17’
3242-4442-14-0-4sax-euph
This is a highly suggestive work that takes
its point of departure in the very deepest
darkness and silence, out of which a dull carpet of sound
develops. It slowly works its way towards the light, while
the rumbling bass drums create an almost fateful atmosphere.
The middle part is more airily orchestrated, with
quick, rhythmical figures in the winds. The drums drive
the music forward, ending up in a powerful section for
percussion ensemble, after which the dark timbres and
the solemn mood from the beginning of the work return.
Mikko Heiniö
Sonata da chiesa (2005) Dur: 16’
0000-4331-13-cel
The form of the Sonata da chiesa points
to a Baroque church sonata, but instead
of being traditional music for the church, it paints glorious
visions in sound. The movements are marked off by intermezzos
in which the celesta occupies a focal role. The critics
praised the sensual timbres of this work along with the
delicious rhythmic romping, for the second movement of
the Church Sonata is real swinging boogie.
FREDRIK HÖGBERG
Troll Tuba – The Three Billy Goats Gruff
(2005) Dur: 10’
for tuba and symphonic wind band
(text in English/Swedish/Norwegian)
3252-4431-13-0-2asx-tsax-bsax-euph-db
This is an entertaining tuba concerto and musical tale
in which the tuba player functions as both narrator and
soloist, and the orchestra musicians comment on the course
of events. Here Högberg exhibits once again humour and
lively musicianship with his spirited, rhythmically vivacious
and diverting music.
Jukka Linkola
Euphonium Concerto (1996) Dur: 29’
Version for concert band arr. Elias Seppälä
3262-4432-02-pf/cel-asax-tsax-bsax-euph-db
This popular work, described by its composer
as “unashamedly melodic”, abounds in technical challenges
and musical brilliance. Linkola set out to exploit the
singing, sensual quality of his solo instrument as a sensitive
interpreter of melody. According to a review by Iwan Fox, this
concerto is regarded as the “Everest” of its genre, tackled by
many, conquered by few.
Pasi Lyytikäinen
Necto (2010) Dur: 5’
3322-4431-01-db
Scored for symphonic winds, Necto was
premiered by the Guards’ Band in October
2010. It was originally intended as a bridge between
Stravinsky’s Piano Concerto and Mussorgsky’s Pictures at
an Exhibition; in this respect it well serves its purpose,
capturing the spirit of both. But the allusion to them is so
discreet that Necto can also be performed as a separate
concert number.
HILDING ROSENBERG
Symphony for Wind and Percussion –
The Tower of Babel (1966) Dur: 18’
2222-0330-13-0
When Hilding Rosenberg composed the
music to Birgit Culberg’s ballet The Tower of Babel he wrote
it in such a way that, with minimal changes, it could be converted
into a concert work. And this masterly written, captivating
symphony has become something of a classic among
Swedish works for wind orchestra.
Aulis Sallinen
Chorali for Wind Orchestra (1970) Dur: 12’
4444-6442-03-hp-cel
According to composer Mikko Heiniö,
Chorali has features that recall late Sibelius:
melancholy, expressionless tones shunning all forms of
colourism, modal or whole-tone motion and above all the
orchestration. Chorali opens with a rising scale over solemn
pedal notes. The mood is statically devout and chorale-like,
but builds up to powerful drama in around the middle. The
last of its four motifs culminates in an episode reminiscent
of a funeral march.
ALBERT SCHNELZER
Azraeel Suite (2008) Dur: 13’
2151-3432-11-0-asax-tsax-euph-db
Schnelzer’s imaginative suite in three
movements was inspired by Salman
Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses. The two outer movements,
(I. Burning of Books, and III. Angel of Death), are highly
dramatic with considerable dynamic fluctuations, and
violently driving rhythms, creating a feeling of impending
threat. The music of the lighter middle movement, (“turn
them into instruments…”), is reminiscent of music from
the Balkans, with its dancing rhythms, alternating between
7/8 and 6/8 time.
Profound, radiant works
Rautavaara’s inimitable, intimately radiant other-worldliness
is brilliantly matched by the rich timbres of a choir,
and the singers’ charged and passionate dedication
spins ideal interpretations of Rautavaara’s sacred works.
Rondo, September 2013
Einojuhani Rautavaara: Sacred Choral Works
CD: Latvian Radio Choir/Sigvards Klava (Ondine ODE 1223-2)
Aho’s oboe music
– exotic and stimulating
This is really fascinating music…Bockstal captures
the music’s grander sentiments marvelously...This is
an excellent collaboration and would be an appropriate
addition to anyone’s collection who is seeking
where the world of music and we are headed.
American Record Guide July/August 2013
Kalevi Aho: Works for the Oboe (Concerto for Oboe
and Orchestra, Solo IX, Sonata for Oboe and Piano)
CD: Lahti SO/Martyn Brabbins, sol. Piet Van Bockstal, Yutaka Oya,
piano (BIS-SCD 1876)
One of the most interesting composers
Composer-guitarist Kai Nieminen is quite definitely
one of our most interesting contemporary composers,
transforming his impressions into the most
fantastic compositions for various instruments
and line-ups…This was the Finnish premiere of his
four-movement A Walk to the Mysterious Woods [for
guitar]... It really is a walk to mysterious woods full of
dazzling details.
Valkeakosken Sanomat 3. & 5.7.
Works by Kai Nieminen
Trio La Rue, Patrik Kleemola, guitar etc., 3.9.2013 Sääksmäki, Finland
Amazing Schnelzer
This [Into Thin Air] is amazing
music, with a wealth of contrasts
and breakneck turns.
Mårtensson’s playing made
the clarinet stand out as
the optimal instrument
for this type of expressivity.
In Wolfgang is Dancing,
Schnelzer poked fun at
Mozart in imaginative and
Staffan Mårtensson
humorous music with a driving rhythm. The audience
responded with a well-deserved ovation.
Corren 15.8.
Albert Schnelzer: Into Thin Air, Wolfgang is Dancing
World premiere: Staffan Mårtensson, clarinet, Love Derwinger,
piano, Erik Wahlgren, cello, Tobias Ringborg, violin, 14.8.2013
Linköping Chamber Music Festival, Sweden
Photo: Heikki Tuuli
Photo: Carl Thorborg
H i g h l i g h t s 3 / 2 0 1 3

Intoxicating piano concerto
Here melodies flow in and out of one another, forged
rather than composed, in an intoxicating torrent.
Both the orchestra and soloist had great fun with the
material. The audience was left breathless.
Helsingborgs Dagblad 13.8.
Tobias Broström: Piano Concerto – Belle époque
Musica Vitae/Fredrik Burstedt, sol. Per Tengstrand, 12.8.2013
Helsingborg, Sweden
Heiniö’s Luceat – climax of the disc
The high points are mainly in the latter half, however,
starting with Kokkonen’s marvelous five-span Laudatio
Domini, a real modern classic. Mikko Heiniö’s Luceat
receives its first recording here and it is the real
climax of the disc, not the Górecki. We should have
more Heiniö on disc.
Gramophone 2013
Mikko Heiniö: Luceat
Joonas Kokkonen: Laudatio Domini etc.
CD: Key Ensemble/Teemu Honkanen (Fuga-9302)
Cleverly-constructed drama
Syyskesän laulu (Late Summer Song) is a cleverlyconstructed
drama…There were lots of contrasts,
and the peaks and valleys were tastefully measured
out. The instrumentation was colourful, Heiniö’s
idiom seems quite at home in Nummi’s texts…Essi
Luttinen sang magnificently and entered strongly
into the shifting moods.
Turun Sanomat 16.7.
Mikko Heiniö: Syyskesän laulu (version for mezzosoprano
and orchestra)
Refugium musicum/Tuomas Rousi, sol. Essi Luttinen, 13.7.2013
Turku, Finland
Stage performance of Linjama’s church opera in Ossiach in 2010
Music that brings out goose pimples
Jyrki Linjama composes fine works for the church, in
earnest… His technical mastery and skilful crafting
guarantee a multidimensional result that touches even
the listener unfamiliar with the underlying structures.
The beginning of this modern lament is so sensitive it
brings out goose pimples. [Finnish Stabat Mater]
The church opera Die Geburt des Täufers has a
similar effect. It works well in a concert version, too,
Eliasson’s urgent
and timeless music
This is independent music that follows its own symphonic
laws. The themes develop organically, as if by
themselves… Eliasson was a master builder of form.
Helsingin Sanomat 31.5.
This performance was consummate… Storgårds´
was an incomparable, penetrating and emotionally
charged interpretation of the dramaturgically and
thematically well-wrought work…Eliasson’s music
has an urgency and timelessness in its appeal and
aesthetics that is hard to resist, and the contexts
grow forth with impeccable logic.
Hufvudstadsbladet 31.5.
Anders Eliasson: Symphony No. 4
Finnish premiere: Helsinki PhO/John Storgårds,
29.5.2013 Helsinki, Finland
because here again Linjama is aiming at moods, and
illustrates the main events with his music.
Kotimaa 25.7.
Jyrki Linjama: Finnish Stabat Mater
World premiere: Soli Deo Gloria/Juhani Lamminmäki, sol. Piia
Komsi, Ulla Raiskio, Ritva Koistinen, 29.6.2013 Kokkola, Finland
Die Geburt des Täufers
Concert version: Soli Deo Gloria/Juhani Lamminmäki,
sol. Ursula Langmayr, Esa Ruuttunen etc., 7.7.2013 Espoo, Finland
Fury and reconciliation
in Sixten’s Requiem
Here we encounter
chaos, anger, tensions,
wild frenzy – a surrealistic
and fluctuating reality.
But Sixten’s music does
not lose its foothold:
penetrating and pure
folk elements are also
there…“In paradisum” is
the loveliest of the movements,
where the sufferer
finally sees the light.
Sundsvalls Tidning 28.6.
Fredrik Sixten: Requiem
CD: Swedish Radio Choir, Nordic ChO/Ragnar Bohlin, sol. Karin
Ingebäck, soprano, Anders Larsson, bass (Intim musik IMCD 120)
Photo: Ferdinand Neumueller
Photo: Anders Eliasson
Lisa Larsson and the Kreutzer Quartet
Photo: Markus Palmgren, BLT
Beautiful and expressive
Martinsson songs
The ten movements (Dickinson poems set to
music) were characterised by intense drama
but also by small effects that provided a singular
suspense and vitality….The most exciting
of all was the premiere of Till skuggan av en
verklighet, for soprano and string quartet. Lisa
Larsson’s soprano sounded so liberating, not
only beautiful but also strong and expressive,
with Karin Boye’s words about love, in vivid harmony
with the outstanding Kreutzer Quartet.
Blekinge Läns Tidning 5.7.
Rolf Martinsson: Songs on Poems by Emily
Dickinson (song/piano-version),
Till skuggan av en verklighet
World premiere: Lisa Larsson, soprano, Roland Pöntinen,
piano, Kreutzer Quartet, 4.7.2013 Lyckå Chamber Music
Festival, Sweden
Cinematic concert
overture
I very much liked the piece, a study in harmonic
instability with an almost cinematic
deployment of massive blocks of chords in
the brass rising from and falling back into a
sea of scurrying strings…
Seen and Heard 31.5.
Martinsson’s ten-minute piece was a brilliant
opening for the concert…The work
begins with grand, brassy fanfares and
jazzy rhythms…followed by music as lushly
romantic as Erich Korngold’s film scores…
It’s an overture worth hearing again.
bachtrack 31.5.
Rolf Martinsson: Open Mind
Cleveland SO/Manfred Honeck,
26.5.2013 Cleveland, USA
H i g h l i g h t s 3 / 2 0 1 3

n e w p u b l i c at i o n s
C H O R A L
Nils Lindberg
Nu jublar min själ/My Heart Sings for Joy
Version for mixed choir, trumpet and organ
GE 12293
Version for brass orchestra, percussion,
mixed choir and double bass
Text: Book of Psalms (Swe/Eng)
GE 12257
Christian Engquist
The Distant Star
for mixed choir
Text: The composer (Eng)
GE 12278
Per Gunnar Petersson
Sanctus
for mixed choir
Text: from Mass (Latin)
GE 12284
Anders Paulsson
Heaven Come Down
for mixed choir
Text: Cecil Frances Alexander
& Anders Paulsson (Eng)
GE 12278
Kjell Lönnå, arr.
Pat-a-pan
for descant choir
Music & text: Bernard de
La Monnoye
(Fr/Eng)
GE 12310
Göran Arnberg
Dormi Jesu
for descant choir
Text: Dutch 16th cent. (Latin)
Transl: Samuel T. Coleridge (Eng)
GE 12276
N E W C D s & D V D s
C H A M B E R & I N S T R U M E N T A L
Kalevi Aho (arr.)
Rimsky-Korsakov: The Flight
of the Bumble Bee
Residentie Orkest Den Haag/Neeme
Järvi, sol. Sharon Bezaly
BIS SACD 1679 (“Great Works for Flute
and Orchestra”)
TOBIAS BROSTRÖM
Samsara, Dreamscape,
Cello Concerto
Västerås Sinfonietta & strings from
Swedish National Youth SO/Johannes
Gustavsson, essens:1, Hugo Ticciati,
violin, Johan Bridger, marimba,
Mats Rondin cond. and cello
dbCD154
Paavo Heininen
Quintet Op. 7,
Saxophone Sonata
Kimmo Kuitunen
Leino meets ASQ
Pasi Lyytikäinen
Rosso
Olli-Pekka Tuomisalo, saxophone,
Hanna Kinnunen, flute, Risto-Matti
Marin piano etc.
Pilfink Records JJVCD-123 (”Chambersax”)
Olli Kortekangas
Anna niskasi niellä kynteni jälki
Polytech Choir/Juha Kuivanen
PKCD 23 (”Kuuletko sinä”)
Einojuhani Rautavaara
Sacred Choral Works
Latvian Radio Choir/Sigvards Klava
Ondine ODE 1223-2 (”Missa a cappella”)
Erkki Salmenhaara
Canzonetta
Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra/
Juha Kangas
Alba ABCD 355 (”Epifania”)
FREDRIK SIXTEN
Requiem
Swedish Radio Choir, Nordic ChO/
Ragnar Bohlin, sol. Karin Ingebäck,
Anders Larsson
Intim musik IMCDS 120
WILHELM STENHAMMAR
String Quartets Nos. 3 & 4
Stenhammar Quartet
BIS-CD-1659
EDUARD TUBIN
Symphonies Nos. 2 & 5
Estonian Radio SO/Peeter Lilje
DVD 4742229 00434
© International Tubin Society
ROLF MARTINSSON
Capriccio
for solo violin
GE 10994
Einojuhani Rautavaara
Hymnus
for trumpet and organ
FG 55009-947-0
SVEN-DAVID SANDSTRÖM
Dance III
for three violoncelli
GE 12355
O R C H E S T R A L
FREDRIK HÖGBERG
Ice Concerto
for piano and orchestra
GE 12203 (score)
Ahti Sonninen (arr.)
Cantate cantica socii
for string orchestra
A set of parts (333221)
is now available for sale.
FG 55011-153-0
Jean Sibelius
Theme and Variations
(Teema ja variaatiot)
for solo cello
FIRST PUBLICATION
FG 55009-238-9
Fredrik Sixten
Toccata & Fugue
on B-A-C-H
for organ
GE 12277
V O C A L
Kimmo Hakola
Kivi-laulut (Kivi Songs)
Seven Songs to Texts by Aleksis Kivi
for voice and piano
The songs exist also in orchestral
versions.
FG 55011-149-3
For further information about our works or representatives worldwide check our web sites or contact us at:
H i g h l i g h t s 3 / 2 0 1 2
Gehrmans Musikförlag AB
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