AHO Works with and for Organ

Record and Artist Details

Composer or Director: Kalevi Aho, Johann Sebastian Bach

Genre:

Instrumental

Label: BIS

Media Format: Super Audio CD

Media Runtime: 62

Mastering:

DDD

Catalogue Number: BIS1966

BIS1966. AHO Works with and for Organ. Jan Lehtola

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
Quasi una fantasia Kalevi Aho, Composer
Jan Lehtola, Organ
Kalevi Aho, Composer
Petri Komulainen, Horn
Epilogue Kalevi Aho, Composer
Jan Lehtola, Organ
Jussi Vuorinen, Trombone
Kalevi Aho, Composer
(Die) Kunst der Fuge, '(The) Art of Fugue', Movement: Contrapunctus 14 Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Jan Lehtola, Organ
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Wedding March I Kalevi Aho, Composer
Jan Lehtola, Organ
Kalevi Aho, Composer
Wedding March II Kalevi Aho, Composer
Jan Lehtola, Organ
Kalevi Aho, Composer
Wedding Music Kalevi Aho, Composer
Jan Lehtola, Organ
Kalevi Aho, Composer
Ludus solemnis Kalevi Aho, Composer
Jan Lehtola, Organ
Kalevi Aho, Composer
In memoriam Kalevi Aho, Composer
Jan Lehtola, Organ
Kalevi Aho, Composer
Song of the Earth Kalevi Aho, Composer
Anna-Kaisa Pippuri, Oboe
Jan Lehtola, Organ
Kaija Saarikettu, Violin
Kalevi Aho, Composer
Aho’s writing for organ certainly betrays the same ear for instrumental colour as his orchestral works, and it is refreshing to hear what one might call a ‘non-French’ approach to the instrument. The writing is springy, the melodic lines clear and athletic, textures uncluttered; the lineage is certainly northern European, and Bach in particular is paid homage to in Aho’s remarkable completion of the Contrapunctus XIV from The Art of Fugue.

The longest piece here is the austere Quasi una fantasia for horn and organ but for me the most impressive works are Ludus solemnis, whose opening suggests a majestic chorale prelude and then splinters into a sequence of precisely coloured landscapes, exploiting to the full the magnificent Åkerman & Lund organ in St John’s church in Malmö, and the elegiac Laulu maasta (‘Song of the Earth’) for violin, oboe and organ. This latter is just under five minutes in length but one feels that it could be expanded into a much longer piece, so engaging is the material and so fascinating the colours produced by this unlikely trio of instruments. There are also simpler, practical pieces here – three wedding marches written at different times, an Epilogue for trombone and organ, and a lovely In memoriam. There is clearly more for Aho to say in this field and Lehtola is the man to transmit the message.

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