Pekka Kuusisto / Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra / Hannu Lintu SEBASTIAN FAGERLUND Darkness in Light

This is BIS’s third disc devoted to the music of the Finn Sebastian Fagerlund (b1972). David Fanning was not wholly convinced by the earlier orchestral release (including Isola and the Clarinet Concerto, 9/11) but I warmed rather more to the present pairing, in style not so dissimilar from his elder Swedish contemporary, B Tommy Andersson.

The Violin Concerto Darkness in Light (2012) was composed for and dedicated to Pekka Kuusisto, who gives a dazzlingly virtuoso account of it here. The three movements, as might be inferred from the title (derived from the writing of Haruki Murakami), explore and try to reconcile mutually exclusive elements, heard at the outset in the opposition of the dark writing for bass clarinets, timpani and tuba with the solo violin and supporting group of upper winds and bright percussion. Kuusisto navigates his way brilliantly through the gamut of effects including multiple-stopping, microtones, harmonics et al, all expressed within a broadly legato flow; even the more angular and hostile episodes serve to illuminate the music’s broader context.

Ignite (2010) is similarly a work of dark and light, its structure dominated by spirals, the music calming to near stasis as it approaches the centre before being flung out again into the turbulent finale. It is an invigorating and virtuosically scored symphonic poem and finds Lintu and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra fully on their mettle. Superb sound, as always from the black label. (Guy Rickards / Gramophone)

Ismo Eskelinen / Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra / Hannu Lintu SEBASTIAN FAGERLUND Stonework - Drifts - Transit

Sebastian Fagerlund has been described as ‘a composer who commandingly bridges tradition and modernity’ (Klassik-Heute.de) while his music is ‘modern and unorthodox, opulent and strange, masterfully composed and orchestrated’ (MusicWeb-International). Previous acclaimed recordings on BIS include the chamber opera Döbeln, as well as orchestral works and concertos for clarinet, violin and bassoon respectively. Another concertante work froms part of the present programme: Transit for guitar and orchestra, written for Ismo Eskelinen who also performs it here. He is partnered by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Hannu Lintu who have previously championed Fagerlund’s music: the orchestra has commissioned several works, including the guitar concerto as well as Drifts, the opening work here. The disc takes its title from the third composition, Stonework, named after those man-made stone structures that are found all over the world, serving a range of purposes, from landmarks and navigational aids to burial monuments.

Bram van Sambeek / Lahti Symphony Orchestra AHO & FAGERLUND Bassoon Concertos

The Finnish composer Kalevi Aho (b. 1949) and his younger colleague and compatriot Sebastian Fagerlund (b. 1972) have both received international recognition for their masterful treatment of large orchestral forces. This they have demonstrated in purely orchestral as well as in concertante works – Aho has written 26 concertos to date (most of them in his monumental project to compose a concerto for each of the main orchestral instruments), and Fagerlund’s concertos for clarinet and for violin have been released by BIS to critical acclaim. On this disc the two composers appear side by side with their respective concertos for bassoon and orchestra, works that to a certain extent illustrate different approaches to the concerto genre. If the Romantic concept of the concerto was that of a struggle between the soloist and orchestra, Fagerlund in his Mana (2014) instead gives the bassoon the role of a spiritual leader, conjuring up new sound worlds from the orchestra. (In Swedish – Fagerlund’s mother tongue – ‘mana’ is a verb that suggests invocation; in Finnish the word alludes to exorcism). Kalevi Aho, on the other hand, has endeavoured to enrich and expand the solo instrument’s sonic and expressive possibilities through his use of orchestration and describes his concerto as ‘quite symphonic in character’. In both works Lahti Symphony Orchestra supports the soloist Bram van Sambeek, the first bassoonist ever to receive the prestigious Dutch Music Prize and the musician for whom Fagerlund composed Mana. In preparation for the concerto Fagerlund also wrote the solo piece Woodlands, which van Sambeek includes here together with Aho’s dramatic Solo V. (BIS Records)