how 'bout a little Kalevi Aho to spruce things up (10/10 review)?

[barry guerrero]

Certainly, any good Mahler nutcase could appreciate Aho's antiphonal effects. Here goes:

KALEVI AHO
Symphony No. 12 "Luosto"
Taina Piira (soprano); Aki Alamikkotervo (tenor); Hannu Lehtonen (saxophone)

Lahti Symphony Orchestra
Chamber Orchestra of Lapland

John Storgards

BIS- 1676(SACD)
No Reference Recording

    rating: 10/10

    Kalevi Aho loves a challenge, though at times (as in his recent disc of concertos for contrabassoon and tuba) the effort can seem more an end in itself than a musically rewarding experience. Not so here. His Twelfth Symphony is a bold extravaganza for full orchestra, distant chamber orchestra, and extra brass and percussion "in the round". It was composed for performance in an outdoor amphitheater in Luosto, Lapland, and requires about 120 players and two singers whose wordless vocalise recalls similar moments in Nielsen's Third Symphony. This, then, is nature music--at least for the most part--supremely evocative and atmospheric (and full of arresting, attractive melodic invention).

    The piece begins with some primal drumming and ends with a whopper of a storm as vivid as the finale of Aho's equally magnificent Symphonic Dances. In between there's a "darkness to light" second movement that reveals Aho's newly found love of the contrabassoon far more appropriately than his "symphony" for said instrument, followed by a lyrical "Song in the Fells" featuring the tenor and soprano soloists, plus saxophone.

    Obviously a piece such as this was made for SACD recording, and BIS's engineers have captured the "surround" experience with exceptional vividness. That said, I still prefer to listen in regular stereo, and would sooner die than hear the thing outdoors, as originally intended. Happily, the work's musical substance is more than strong enough that its impact emerges just as powerfully through two speakers. So if you haven't invested in a surround system you have nothing to worry about. It goes without saying that the performance is outstanding, with John Storgards coaxing his battalion of players to produce a wonderfully full, integrated sonic experience. In other words, the spacial element sounds natural, not gimmicky, and the performance has as much to do with that as does the engineering. A wonderful disc for the adventurous.

    --David Hurwitz

[Polarius T]

You give me a bad conscience: Aho is one of the country's premier contemporary composers, and I am not nearly as familiar with his work as I definitely should be. Too often he is passed by with a folksy shrug as the quintessential state grants artist (read: "too academic" which in turn reads "anemic," for the populace) of his generation, which of course is nothing bad and only good and simply means that the radio waves are so saturated with works commissioned from him that he gets to be taken for furniture.

That's a pity as I feel like he might have more to say than all the Joonas Kokkonens and Einojuhani Rautavaaras combined. (Though maybe not as much as all the Lindbergs and Saariahos and Tiensuus combined.)

I'm not familiar with the soloists so they must be fairly fresh on the scene.

PT

[techniquest]

I already have Aho's 8th Symphony for Organ & Orchestra which is great fun, but being an adventurous soul I have now purchased the 12th along with the 11th (for 6 percussionists & orchestra), the Symphonic Dances and the Concerto for Contrabassooon & Orchestra. Looking forward to giving these a good listen very soon

[Don]

Aho's Symphonies are wonderful works. I find #11 and 12 fascinating and enjoy # 10 as well. They are exciting, interesting and accessible without being "easy". I do not find them academic at all; I can think of many composers more "anemic" and academic than Aho. John Adams comes to mind.

[Leo K]

Aho's Symphonies are wonderful works. I find #11 and 12 fascinating and enjoy # 10 as well. They are exciting, interesting and accessible without being "easy". I do not find them academic at all; I can think of many composers more "anemic" and academic than Aho. John Adams comes to mind.

Welcome to the board Don!


--Todd

[Don]

Thanks Todd! Odd that my first post on a Mahler board is about Kalevi Aho, but I do see a bit of a kindred spirit.