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Finland

  • Advent Calendar

    Pekka Jalkanen – Kuulen lumen tulon

    by 5:4 December 6, 2021 • 05:00
    December 6, 2021 • 05:00

    Today is Finnish Independence Day – Hyvää Itsenäisyyspäivää! – and to mark the occasion, behind today’s Advent Calendar door is a short work by Pekka Jalkanen. Kuulen lumen tulon (I hear snow coming) is the first part of Jalkanen’s 2017 triptych November, the three movements of which are for one, two…

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  • CD/Digital releasesFree musicThematic series

    Brothomstates – ReKobn-Tich-Ey

    by 5:4 January 13, 2021 • 10:06
    January 13, 2021 • 10:06

    Three years ago, i featured in my ‘Free internet music’ series a new release from Finnish musician Lassi Nikko, aka Brothomstates, who had surprised everyone at the end of 2017 by suddenly putting out a new 13-minute track after over a decade and a half of silence. In the final…

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  • ConcertsFestivalsPremières

    Estonian Music Days 2020 (Part 1)

    by 5:4 September 25, 2020 • 14:11
    September 25, 2020 • 14:11

    The last couple of years have been unusual for the Estonian Music Days. In 2019 the festival was bloated beyond all recognition and sense due to its assimilation into the World Music Days, making for a horribly hectic and exhausting experience. In 2020, for reasons pandemical, it was the opposite,…

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  • ConcertsFestivalsPremières

    Nordic Music Days 2019 (Part 1)

    by 5:4 November 19, 2019 • 16:31
    November 19, 2019 • 16:31

    Founded in 1888, the annual Nordic Music Days is one of the oldest contemporary music festivals in the world. It’s a peripatetic festival, moving from place to place each year, and for 2019 – surprisingly, for the first time – it moved north of the Arctic Circle, to the small…

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  • FestivalsPremières

    Proms 2019: Pictured Within: Birthday Variations for M. C. B. (World Première)

    by 5:4 August 20, 2019 • 19:22
    August 20, 2019 • 19:22

    A week ago, the Proms saw the world première of a new work by no fewer than 14 composers. Conceived by conductor Martyn Brabbins as a 60th birthday present to himself, the piece is inspired by, and modelled on, the structure and character of Elgar’s Enigma Variations. For this new…

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  • ConcertsFestivals

    Summartónar 2019 (Part 2)

    by 5:4 August 12, 2019 • 15:56
    August 12, 2019 • 15:56

    As i previously remarked, one of the most (and one of the only) disappointing things about my first experience of the Faroe Islands’ Summartónar festival was the almost complete lack of music by Faroese composers. The inclusion of Kristian Blak – artistic director of the festival – mitigated that to…

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  • FestivalsPremières

    Proms 2019: Outi Tarkiainen – Midnight Sun Variations (World Première)

    by 5:4 August 6, 2019 • 12:55
    August 6, 2019 • 12:55

    Composers generally tend to shy away from admitting their music to be overtly autobiographical, but in the case of the latest Proms première, by Finnish composer Outi Tarkiainen, the piece is a clear extension – a manifestation, even – of the composer’s way of experiencing the world. In her answers…

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  • FestivalsInterviews

    Proms 2019: pre-première questions with Outi Tarkiainen

    by 5:4 August 4, 2019 • 06:00
    August 4, 2019 • 06:00

    This evening’s Prom, given by the BBC Philharmonic, includes the world première of Midnight Sun Variations by Finnish composer Outi Tarkiainen. In anticipation of that, here are her answers to my pre-première questions, along with the programme note of the piece. Many thanks to Outi for her responses.

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  • CD/Digital releases

    Esa-Pekka Salonen – Cello Concerto

    by 5:4 July 15, 2019 • 16:27
    July 15, 2019 • 16:27

    One of my highlights from last year came at the end of the summer, during the final concert at the Baltic Sea Festival in Stockholm. An occasion given over to celebrating composer and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen (which i reviewed elsewhere), the concert included a performance of Salonen’s Cello Concerto given…

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  • ConcertsFestivalsPremières

    World Music Days 2019, Estonia (Part 2)

    by 5:4 May 15, 2019 • 15:11
    May 15, 2019 • 15:11

    The one opportunity to hear music for full orchestra at this year’s World Music Days took place on Friday evening at the Estonia Concert Hall, performed by the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Olari Elts. The Estonian Music Days’ tradition of recent years has been to begin the Friday…

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  • ConcertsFestivalsPremières

    World Music Days 2019, Estonia (Part 1)

    by 5:4 May 13, 2019 • 18:18
    May 13, 2019 • 18:18

    At the northernmost edge of Tallinn, looking out over the Baltic Sea towards Finland, is a huge concrete edifice called the Linnahall. Built during the Soviet occupation, it was constructed as part of the USSR’s hosting of the 1980 Olympic Games, as a coastal hub for the boating events. It’s…

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  • ConcertsFestivalsPremières

    Borealis 2019 (Part 2)

    by 5:4 March 19, 2019 • 13:47
    March 19, 2019 • 13:47

    Nearly but not quite everything that took place at this year’s Borealis festival was light years away from the world of conventional concert performances. The most notable exception to this was the first event i attended, at the Nykirken on Friday evening, given by Sjøforsvarets musikkorps, the Norwegian Naval Forces…

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  • CD/Digital releasesFree musicThematic series

    Brothomstates – Untitled; Stephan Mathieu – A Microsound Fairytale

    by 5:4 January 20, 2018 • 12:54
    January 20, 2018 • 12:54

    The next recommendations in my series looking at free internet music are a pair of pieces exploring extremes of computer-mangled audio. The first is a new release from Finnish composer Lassi Nikko, better known as Brothomstates, and even writing his name in the context of a new release – something i never…

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  • Premières

    Kaija Saariaho – Adriana Songs (UK Première)

    by 5:4 December 6, 2017 • 08:44
    December 6, 2017 • 08:44

    Hyvää itsenäisyyspäivää, Suomi! Today is an important day for the country of Finland, marking the 100th anniversary of their declaration of independence from the Russian Republic. To mark the occasion i’m turning to one of Finland’s most celebrated composers, Kaija Saariaho, specifically to an intense song cycle she composed in…

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  • FestivalsPremières

    Proms 2017: Lotta Wennäkoski – Flounce (World Première)

    by 5:4 September 10, 2017 • 10:49
    September 10, 2017 • 10:49

    After eight weeks of (for the most part) serious music-making, the Last Night of the Proms, quite reasonably, is primarily disposed to the aim of letting of steam and just having fun. For the contemporary composer chosen to get the evening going each year, the enormous sense of occasion –…

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  • FestivalsInterviews

    Proms 2017: pre-première questions with Lotta Wennäkoski

    by 5:4 September 9, 2017 • 05:00
    September 9, 2017 • 05:00

    This evening, Finnish composer Lotta Wennäkoski‘s new work Flounce will literally become the beginning of the end, getting started the Last Night of the Proms. For the final time this year then, here are my pre-première questions, together with Wennäkoski’s answers and her programme note for the piece. Many thanks to Lotta…

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  • FestivalsPremières

    Proms 2016: Magnus Lindberg – Two Episodes (World Première)

    by 5:4 July 25, 2016 • 12:58
    July 25, 2016 • 12:58

    Last week, i finally got round to watching a concert i’d recorded last year celebrating the music of film composer John Williams, featuring highlights from throughout his long career. For better or worse, i couldn’t help recalling that concert again and again during last night’s world première at the Proms of…

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  • ConcertsFestivalsPremières

    HCMF 2014: Monty Adkins + Britt Pernille Frøholm, Arne Deforce + Mika Vainio, Gareth Davis

    by 5:4 November 29, 2014 • 15:35
    November 29, 2014 • 15:35

    Last night’s and this morning’s concerts all featured soloists performing and interacting with electronics and/or visual elements within large-scale compositional forms. Monty Adkins‘ new 40-minute work Spiral Paths to some extent brings together the twin lines of enquiry that led to Four Shibusa (electronics with live performers) and Rift Patterns…

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  • FestivalsPremières

    Proms 2014: Haukur Tómasson – Magma; Jukka Tiensuu – Voice verser (UK Premières)

    by 5:4 September 3, 2014 • 20:57
    September 3, 2014 • 20:57

    Nothing remotely ordinary, it often seems, can come from Scandinavia. This notion was emphatically corroborated at the Proms in the recent pair of UK premières from Iceland’s Haukur Tómasson and Finland’s Jukka Tiensuu. i can’t help wondering whether they succeeded as strongly as they did in part for essentially the…

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  • Premières

    Magnus Lindberg – Era (UK Première)

    by 5:4 July 2, 2013 • 21:42
    July 2, 2013 • 21:42

    One of the more striking premières i’ve caught in recent months took place at the Barbican’s Total Immersion event ‘New from the North’, back in March. On the one hand, it’s disappointing that these events are no longer in the least bit ‘total’ and have come very far from being…

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