Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Baumer - Symphony 12 - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

The once highly esteemed composer, conductor and teacher Friedrich Gernsheim can certainly be described as a 'missing link', because he managed the feat of forming friendly ties with both Johannes Brahms and his antipode Max Bruch without falling between two stools as a two-bit plagiarist. Whenever his music seems to lean towards the classicist from Hamburg or towards the more rhapsodic composer from the Rhineland, it is actually expressing it's own distinctive character. The eloquent piano concerto's mode of expression with it's wonderfully voluptuous dialogues is similar to that of the internationally celebrated concerto that Bruch completed in exactly the same year, 1868; the austere, concise cello concerto of 1903 and the tone poem Zu einem Drama from around the same period evoke moods that one only reaches after a very personal journey. Impressive!

This new album by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Hannu Lintu presents a new contemporary voice within Finland's contemporary music scene Antti Auvinen. This album includes three recent orchestral works by the composer marked by highly pressurised and explosive rhythms and sounds. The premieres of Antti Auvinen's (b. 1974) Junker Twist (2015) and Himmel Punk (2016) in the mid-2010s electrified the scene of Finland's contemporary music music critics felt that a new major voice in the country's music scene had been born. Auvinen's works are often thematically connected to events in the surrounding society. Junker Twist (2015) deals with the topic of rising neo-Nazist ideologies, while Himmel Punk (2016) takes a stand against religious discrimination. The most extensive work of this album, Turbo Aria (2017/2018), is partially based on arias sung by Finnish sopranos a century ago. These 'arias' sung by Alma Fohström, Aino Ackté and Järnefelt and the sounds of the accompanying instruments are augmented by the crackles, pops, hisses and other mechanical noises made by the original discs. Yet the work also has a second underlying theme the refugee crisis. Is this programme music? Perhaps - but it does not matter, because the music is equally impressive with the narrative or without it. In 2016, Auvinen was awarded with the Teosto award, one of the biggest music awards in the Nordic countries.

Ondine celebrates Beethoven's 250th anniversary of birth by re-issuing Olli Mustonen's Beethoven cycle with the Tapiola Sinfonietta. The three volumes were originally released in three separate volumes from 2007-2009. Mustonen, described by The Sunday Times as Inchliving dream of pianismInch, is known for delivering fresh and visionary approach to standard works - this is evident in these masterful recordings of Beethoven's concertos. Mustonen is a particularly fitting exponent for Beethoven's music as the composer himself was also both visionary and revolutionary in his approach to tradition. The recording of Piano Concerto No. 1 includes Mustonen's own cadenzas. Beethoven's own Piano Concerto arrangement of his Violin Concerto is also featured - one of Mustonen's signature pieces.