The music of composer
Kalevi Aho
is difficult to categorize among the various schools of the day. It is broadly expressive, and in these two concertos,
Aho
uses virtuosity in a thoroughly Romantic way. Yet the rigor of their construction is of a thoroughly modern kind. Consider the solo passage in the middle of the first movement of the
Violin Concerto No. 2
. It is... what, exactly? A cadenza?
uses the word in his informative notes, but it is really more of a distillation of what has happened previously. The entire movement is filled with powerfully difficult violin writing. The edgy
Violin Concerto
and the lyrical, rather moody
Cello Concerto
are quite different in character, but both balance complex instrumental writing with long orchestral passages in inventive ways. The
has the unusual feature of having been written not only for its soloist,
Elina Vaehaelae
, but also for its orchestra, the
Kymi Sinfonietta
, and it holds together tightly; both works were conceived in chamber orchestra terms. The
is a remarkable example of the deep bench of Finnish orchestral music. Both of these works ought to be more widely played in concert, and it may be that this fine recording will help make that happen. ~ James Manheim