Kaipainen Bassoon Concerto; Symphony No 3

Top-flight performances of bracing new scores from Finland

Record and Artist Details

Composer or Director: Jouni (Ilari) Kaipainen

Genre:

Orchestral

Label: Ondine

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 74

Mastering:

Stereo
DDD

Catalogue Number: ODE1089-2

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
Symphony No 3 Jouni (Ilari) Kaipainen, Composer
Hannu Lintu, Conductor
Jouni (Ilari) Kaipainen, Composer
Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra
Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra Jouni (Ilari) Kaipainen, Composer
Hannu Lintu, Conductor
Jouni (Ilari) Kaipainen, Composer
Otto Virtanen, Bassoon
Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra
Ondine is building an impressive series of recordings of Jouni Kaipainen's music, following the splendid issues of concertos (7/06) and orchestral works including the Second Symphony (3/96), with his Third and to date largest Symphony coupled with yet another concerto, for bassoon.

His first two symphonies were in one and two movements respectively but Kaipainen suggests no conclusions should be drawn from the fact that the Third (2004) is in three (I'd not bet against No 4 having four, however). The latest symphony is half as long again as No 2 and twice as epic, roaring away from the very first bar. While there are moments of reflection and calm, once it has you in its grip - as with Pettersson - it does not let go. Vividly scored with many solos and ensembles interspersed between passages of invigorating orchestral power, there is a clear thread from start to end. Devotees of Peter Mennin's or Karl Amadeus Hartmann's music will find much to enjoy here.

The symphony boasts several prominent bassoon solos in its first half and his concerto for the instrument (2005), dedicated to Finland's bassoonists, followed almost immediately. Deliciously unconventional in format and treatment, it is cast in four movements. The delightful Scherzo is based on music for a children's play (where a piccolo dances with a bassoon); placed between two serious but multi-layered spans, it is as surreal a discontinuity as anything in early Shostakovich. A rip-roaring presto finale completes a disarmingly subtle creation.

The Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra's playing is electrifying, superbly marshalled by Hannu Lintu, with Otto Virtanen the exemplary soloist. Ondine's sound is of demonstration quality. Splendid.

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