Lahti Symphony Orchestra

Aho: Symphony No. 12 ‘Luosto Symphony’

BIS releases the first recording on CD of Kalevi Aho’s Symphony No.12 - ‘Luosto’. It was written for a performance on the slopes of Mount Luosto in Finnish Lapland. It makes use of two orchestras, two vocal soloists and a number of brass players and percussionists placed at various distances from each other and the conductor, surrounding the audience. The primary inspiration for this four-movement work came from the natural surroundings and traditions of Lapland, and parts of it were composed during a bitterly cold spell in the solitude of a cottage at the foot of Orresokka, the mountain next to Luosto. The three-dimensional qualities written into the score makes it the perfect subject for a Surround Sound recording and during the recording sessions in the acclaimed acoustics of the Lahti Sibelius Hall, great pains were taken to recreate the set-up of the first performance. This took place in 2003, in front of – or rather around – an audience of over 2000 people, and became the starting point of ‘LuostoClassic’, an annual summer music festival which in 2008 features another performance of Aho’s symphony.

The Voice of Sibelius

The YL Male Voice Choir has long held a relationship with the composer Sibelius. Founded in 1883 under the auspices of the Helsinki University, Sibelius began to collaborate with the choir while studying at the conservatory in Helsinki. When the composer made his breakthrough with Kullervo in 1892, singers from YL formed the backbone of the choir, and when he started to write for male choir a cappella the following year his first work was Venematka (The Boat Journey), composed for the choir’s tenth anniversary. After that, a majority of Sibelius's most famous works for male choir were commissioned and premiered by YL, which has never ceased to be regarded as the foremost exponent of Sibelius’s music for male choir – the voice of Sibelius! The present programme includes both a cappella works and works for male choir and orchestra, in which YL is supported by Lahti Symphony Orchestra conducted by Osmo Vänskä. It takes us through a variety of moods and themes: from the brief and very moving Sydämeni laulu – a lullaby for a dead child – to Tulen synty (The Origin of Fire), a re-telling of the ancient Kalevala legend of how fire came into the world, as well as the patriotic sentiments of Vapautettu kuningatar (The Captive Queen) and, of course, the hymn from Finlandia, probably Sibelius’s most famous composition, here in a choral version.

Nielsen & Aho - Clarinet Concertos

Seriously Sibelius

Sibelius - Spirit of Nature

The Legend of Jean Sibelius

Sibelius - Songs of the Earth

Sharon Bezaly - Nordic Spell

Sibelius - Snöfrid

Cantatas and Orchestral Works

Einojuhani Rautavaara - The Journey