Aulis Sallinen: Chamber Music

On this CD:

1. Chamber Music I, Op 38
Composed by Aulis Sallinen
Performed by Stockholm Chamber Ensemble
Conducted by Jan-Olav Wedin

2. Chamber Music II, Op 41, for alto flute and string orchestra
Composed by Aulis Sallinen
Performed by Stockholm Chamber Ensemble with Gunilla von Bahr
Conducted by Okko Kamu

3. Quattro Per Quattro for flute, violin, cello & harpsichord, Op 12
Composed by Aulis Sallinen
Performed by Ari Angervo, Gunilla von Bahr, Gunilla von Bahr, Veikko Hoyla, Eva Nordwall

4. Chaconne for organ
Composed by Aulis Sallinen
Performed by Folke Forsman

5. Winter was Hard, for chorus & orchestra, Op 20
Composed by Aulis Sallinen

Conducted by Erkki Pohjola

6. Sakura
Composed by Aulis Sallinen

Conducted by Erkki Pohjola

7. Dream Songs (4)
Composed by Aulis Sallinen
Performed by Ralf Gothoni, Taru Valjakka

8. Simple Simme and Homeless Hamme, for baritone voice & piano
Composed by Aulis Sallinen
Performed by Ralf Gothoni, Jorma Hynninen

Tracks:

Winter Was Hard Op. 20
Half-Wolf Dances Mad In Moonlight
Frates
Six Bagatelles Op. 9
Forbidden Fruit
Bella By Barlight
Four, For Tango
Quartet No. 3
Adagio
A Door Is Ajar

Customer Reviews:

A great Cd.......2002-09-23

I think this album should recieve 5 stars. I think this because Forbidden Fruit by Zorn is a great piece of music which everyone should be familiar with. He quotes some great stuff in the work...among other things an excerpt from Beethoven's Grosse Fugue for String quartet. The rest of the music on this CD is fantastic. I feel the reviewer below gave three stars due to a inability to understand Zorn. But if you don't fall under that category or if you are willing to listen and be openminded I reccomend this CD without reserve

Good Kronos Stuff.......2002-06-24

This album was my introduction to the Kronos Quartet. It is as good an introduction as I've heard. It illustrates both the positive and negative aspects of this talented quartet.

Some of the works on this recording are quite wonderful. Most exciting to me is the excerpt from Terry Riley's Salome Dances for Piece. The movement is exciting and stunningly played. It is also interesting to compare the version here with the version on the Kronos' recording of the complete work. If you listen to them side by side you can hear the extent of improvisation in the work. The most interesting thing is that, despite the improvisations, the work has a similar impact in each version.

Other gems on the CD include the Salonen title track, the Piazolla pieces, and a passionate reading of the Barber Adagio, perhaps the best I've ever heard. The Kronos also does a fine job with the Webern, though the competition here is much more fierce. And they also do a great job with the Schnittke Quartet, though I have always found the Russian composer's work hard to get close to.

Some of the other pieces are less successful. The quartet version of the Part Fratres is not bad, but does not have the impact of the all cello version. The Jon Lurie piece is a throwaway. And I have never understood the world's fascination with John Zorn. Just don't get it.

All in all, this is a good introduction to the work of the Kronos and most interesting for an alternate version of a major score by Terry Riley. But it's not a must have.

An Eclectic Mix.......1998-09-23

This is a terrific CD. From Webern to John Lurie, to John Zorn's wild "Forbidden Fruit," to a stunning rendition of Barber's Adagio in it's original String Quartet form, this album rocks. Okay, probably not the most appropriate description of a string quartet album, but it does--it rocks. I think this is my favorite recording of the Barber Adagio. Some challenging pieces, but for anyone that loves contemporary classical music, this is a great set.

Average customer rating:

Finnish Orchestral Favorites

Manufacturer: Naxos
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

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Swedish Orchestral Favourites
Swedish Orchestral Favorites, Vol. 2
Scandinavian String Music
Norwegian Violin Favourites
Swedish Romantic Violin Concertos - Berwald, Aulin, et al

ASIN: B00005AYEP
Release Date: 2001-05-15

Tracks:

Finlandia, Op.26
Elegy
Romance
Valse Lente
Valse Triste, Op.44/1
Wedding Waltz Of Akseli & Elina
Prld in G flat, Op.7
Fiddlers, Op.1: The Narbo Villagers In Fine Fettle
Fiddlers, Op.1: Mr. Jonas Kopsi
Fiddlers, Op.1: Bell-ringer Samuel Dikstrom
Fiddlers, Op.1: Devil's Schottische
Fiddlers, Op.1: Jumps
Wedding March, Op.3 No.2
Sleeping Beauty, Op.22: Festive March
Sunrise Ser, Op.63 - Finnish CO/Okko Kamu
Prld
Berceuse - Maarit Kirvessalo
Sea Pictures: Nocturne - Song Of The Watch
Finnish Prayer - Reino Kotaviita

Average customer rating:

Absolutely first rate! Performance & recording are excellent

Kronos Quartet
Philip Glass , Conlon Nancarrow , Jimi Hendrix , Hank Dutt , David Harrington , Joan Jeanrenaud , and John Sherba
Manufacturer: Nonesuch
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Quartets | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

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Kronos Caravan
Kronos Quartet : Winter Was Hard
Kronos Quartet: At The Grave of Richard Wagner
Nuevo
Kronos Quartet Performs Philip Glass

ASIN: B000005IXL
Release Date: 1990-10-25

Tracks:

String Quartet No. 8: Con dolore
String Quartet No. 8: Risoluto
String Quartet No. 8: Con dolore
String Quartet No. 8: Con precisione
String Quartet No. 8: Con dolore
String Quartet No. 3: Some Aspects Of Peltoniemi Hintrik's Funderal March
Company: Company - I
Company: Company - II
Company: Company - III
Company: Company - IV
String Quartet: Allegro molto
String Quartet: Andante moderato
String Quartet: Prestissimo
Purple Haze

Amazon.com essential recording

How odd that the recording that gained Kronos its initial fame proves to be the group's least remarkable: Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze," from the group's 1985 Nonesuch debut. At the time of its release, this encore of Hendrix's canonical rock song gave many traditional cultural commentators pause, and many young fans reason to rejoice. But as the years have passed and Kronos's members have become rock stars themselves (of a sort), listeners have come to find the pleasures promised by the Hendrix cover--soul, visceral rocking, rebellion--elsewhere on this record. The Slavic tinge of Aulis Sallinen's String Quartet No. 3 offers enough melancholy for half a dozen popular songs (and, about four minutes in, some very Hendrix-like rhythms). "Psychedelic" may be the best word to describe the myriad, rapid-fire patterns of the second and fourth movements of Philip Glass's "Company." And there are few rebels so legendary in America as Conlon Nancarrow, who lived in self-exile in Mexico and whose work, this String Quartet notwithstanding, is often too complicated for humans to play. --Marc Weidenbaum

Customer Reviews:

Absolutely first rate! Performance & recording are excellent.......1998-09-23

I am far from knowledgable about music. However, this is a marvelous introduction to contemporary music as arranged for a string quartet. The vision and versatility of this group are really laid out here.

The only piece that jars is "Purple Haze," which, sorry folks, just doesn't work with strings. While I greatly applaud Kronos' willingness to try on a rock masterpiece, Hendrix said everything that needs to be said.

I recommend this CD unreservedly! Jeff

Aulis Sallinen: Washington Mosaics (Chamber Music III, Sonata for Cello)
Average customer rating:
Aulis Sallinen: Washington Mosaics (Chamber Music III, Sonata for Cello)

Manufacturer: Finlandia Records
ProductGroup: Classical
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: B000HBPYEE

Product Description

1-5. Symphony No. 5, Op. 57 Washington Mosaics~~~6. Chamber Music III, Op. 58 The Nocturnal Dances of Don Juanquixote~~~7-8. Sonata for Solo Cello, Op. 26

Sallinen: String quartet No3; Symphony No3

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Sallinen: String quartet No3; Symphony No3

Manufacturer: Bis
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

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Marches | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music

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ASIN: B00000166E
Release Date: 1994-09-01

Tracks:

Sinfonia
Chorali - Paavo Berglund
Il Tempo Energico E Sostenuto
Chaconne
Vivace Giocoso. Finale
Cadenze - Paavo Pohjola
Elegy For Sebastian Knight, Opus 10 - Frans Helmerson
String Quartet - Voces Intimae String Quartet

Amazon.com

Sallinen (b. 1935) is a Finnish composer who has taken Sibelius's obvious influences well into post-modernism at the end of the 20th century. The two great works on this disc are the Sinfonia (of 1971), his first symphony, and his Sinfonia III (1974-'75). He works with an organic expansion of motifs that can be either tonal or atonal (or both at the same time). This is the riveting strategy of Sinfonia. His third symphony, Sinfonia III, develops the main argument in the same, drawn-out organic pattern--chaconne--but now the thematic elements are more song-like. --Paul Cook

Average customer rating:

Musica Vitae Plays Nordic Music, Vol.2

Manufacturer: Bis
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Suites | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B0000016FW
Release Date: 1994-03-25

Tracks:

I. Prelude. Molto Lento
II. Intermezzo. Vivo
III. Lamento
IV. Rondino. Moderato Grazioso
Some Aspects Of Peltoniemi Hintrik's Funeral March
I. Allegro Moderato - Musica Vitae
II. Adagio Molto Ed Espressivo - Musica Vitae
III. Quasi Presto - Musica Vitae
I. Praludium. Andante Con Moto
II. Intermezzo. Allegro Moderato
III. Finale. Andante Con Moto-Allegro Con Brio
Heart's Wounds (Allegretto Espressivo)
Last Spring (Andante)
Siciliano From 'Columbine' - Musica Vitae

Aulis Sallinen: Chamber Musics III, IV, V

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Aulis Sallinen: Chamber Musics III, IV, V

Manufacturer: Cpo Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000M2EBVU
Release Date: 2007-02-27

Average customer rating:

Aurora Borealis

Manufacturer: Ondine
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

Modern & 20th Century | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Movie Soundtracks | Soundtracks | Styles | Music

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ASIN: B00000K37G
Release Date: 1999-09-21

Tracks:

Cantus Arcticus: 1. The Bog - Leipzig RSO/Max Pommer
Cantus Arcticus: 2. Melancholy - Leipzig RSO/Max Pommer
Cantus Arcticus: 3. Swans Migrating - Leipzig RSO/Max Pommer
The Tempest Ste No.1, Op.109/2: The Storm - Helsinki PO/Leif Segerstam
Lento Cantabile - Tampere PO/Tuomas Ollila
Four Compositions: Arietta - Tampere PO/Tuomas Ollila
The Ambush: Adagio - Karelia PO/Oleg Soldatov
Extinguished Torches - Finnish RSO/Sakari Oramo
The Iron Age, Op.55 Ste: Lemminki In Tuonela - Helsinki PO/Okko Kamu
The Thinker - Ostrobothian CO/Juha Kangas
Portraits Of Country Fiddlers, Op.26: The Fiddler's Favorite Tune - Ostrobothian CO/Juha Kangas
Angel Of Light (Sym No.VII): Come Un Sogno - Helsinki PO/Leif Segerstam

Amazon.com

Finland has turned out a remarkable number of great composers in the past 100 years, and this collection is a terrific introduction to several of them. From Rautavaara's Concerto for Birds and Orchestra through Nordgren's glowing and homespun "Fiddler's Favorite Tune" to Sibelius's stormy "Storm" and Merikanto's lushly Romantic Lento, this CD enchants consistently. Nature is omnipresent in Finnish music, and that's about the only stereotype one can find here, although all of these composers were obviously well-schooled in the music that preceded them--one can catch a bit of Debussy here, a hint of the Russian romantics there. In any case, this is ravishing and highly recommended. --Robert Levine

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Aulis Sallinen: Chamber Music

Manufacturer: Bis
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Modern & 20th Century | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

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ASIN: B00000166W
Release Date: 1994-09-22

Tracks:

Chm Music I, Op.38 - Stockholm Cham Ens/Jan-Olav Wedin
Chm Music II, Op.41 - Gunilla Von Bahr/Stockholm Cham Ens/Okko Kamu
Quattro Per Quattro, Op.23 - Veikko Hoyla/Eva Nordwall
Chaconne - Folke Forsman
Vintern Var Hard - Tapiola Children's Chor/Erkki Pohjola
Sakura - Tapiola Children's Chor/Erkki Pohjola
Four Dream Songs: I. Man Made From Sleep - Taru Valjakka/Ralf Gothoni
Four Dream Songs: II. Cradle Song For A Dead Horseman - Taru Valjakka/Ralf Gothoni
Four Dream Songs: III. Three Dreams Each Within Each - Taru Valjakka/Ralf Gothoni
Four Dream Songs: IV. There Is No Stream - Taru Valjakka/Ralf Gothoni
Simple Simme And Homeless Hamme - Jorma Hynninen/Ralf Gothoni

Sallinen: Complete Works for String Orchestra

Average customer rating:

Leaning more against tradition than I like
Great Music by a Fellow Countryman of the Reviewer

Sallinen: Complete Works for String Orchestra

Manufacturer: Naxos
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

Tracks:

Complete Works For String Orchestra: Some Aspects Of Peltoniemi Hintrik's Funderal March - String Quartet No. 3, Op. 19 Arranged Fro String Orchestra
Complete Works For String Orchestra: Chamber Music I, Op.38
Complete Works For String Orchestra: Sunrise Serenade, Op. 63 - For Two Trumpets, Piano And String Orchestra
Complete Works For String Orchestra: Chamber Music II, Op.41- For Alto Flute And String Orchestra
Complete Works For String Orchestra: Chamber Music III, Op.58 For Cello And String Orchestra (The Nocturnal Dances Of Don Juanquixote)

Customer Reviews:

Leaning more against tradition than I like.......2001-08-29

The previous reviewer said it all I will just add a little complaint I felt about this music. Unknown to the works of Sallinen I first got hold of him being played by the Kronos Quartet playing an excerpt of String Quartet No. 3. Intrigued I bought this but felt disappointed. Sallinen doesn't exercise enough friction in his works, it's only the "joy of creating" that shines through withouth ever reaching the goal of creating something unique. Quartet No. 3 has a few enticing passages, mostly were he mixes it with the folkmelody but he doesn't manage to create a coherent work. Chamber Music II op. 41 for alto flute and string orchestra stands out as the best effort, clearly romantic in its building it has a sheer beauty much of the other works lack. Still, it's worth the money, but not much more. **(*) on the barometer.

Great Music by a Fellow Countryman of the Reviewer.......2000-02-22

Aulis Sallinen (b. 1935) is maybe the most famous Finnish composer abroad apart from Sibelius (or at least he was before Rautavaara), and String Quartet No. 3 (1970, arrangation for string orchestra 1981) is probably his best-known instrumental work - at least in Finland (Washington Mosaics, for example, might be better known abroad). Quartet No. 3 isn't a "real" string quartet in sonata form, but a one-movement series of variations on the Finnish folk tune Hintriikki Peltoniemi's Funeral March (better translation). The first two Chamber Musics make use of similar techniques, and elements of folk music are also present in them, though not so obviously. I (1975) is scored for pure strings, while II (1976) gets a special colour from a solo part for alto flute.

A common feature to these three works is that they are all (intentionally) short of thematic material, but it's viewed in many different aspects and varied richly through various possibilities of composition and playing that modern music can provide. Still, Sallinen's work is firmly based on traditions of tonality and melody which have sometimes made him known as a "Neo-Romantic" composer. His music is also easily approachable because of clarity, spontaneity and the unique feel of "joy of invention" that has been its characteristic trademark from the beginning.

In the two remaining works from the 1980s the "Neo-Romantic" epithet becomes more and more justified. Both compositions make use of some material from Sallinen's celebrated operas (The King Goes to France and Kullervo) and there's a slight touch of programme music in themselves, too. Chamber Music III (1986) contains a solo part for cello - a close instrument to Sallinen, whose major works include a concerto for it. This 20-minute work is a series of highly rhythmic and energetic dancing pieces, often with a grotesque or humoristic nature. The briefer Sunrise Serenade (1989) for 2 trumpets, piano and strings might be continuation to "The Nocturnal Dances of Don Juanquixote", being an evocative "Neo-Impressionistic" depiction of the transition from dark to light.

In my opinion, Sallinen has succeeded perfectly in combining musical elements of today and the past. Due to his traditional starting points, this music might be particularly suitable to be listened by those who are afraid of the so called modern music or want to familiarize themselves with it but don't know what to start with. And, as hard as it is to find contemporary music on CD with reasonable prices, this recording by first-class artists should be noticed by every music lover at all.

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