infotext:
FREE FLIGHT OF FANTASY Among the composers of our time, Kalevi Aho is a giant in terms of craftsmanship as well as in terms of his tonal and formal imagination. Although not performed as regularly internationally as some of his peers, he is now easily recognized as Finland's most dazzling symphonist and opera composer. Aho was born on March 9, 1949 in Forsa, southern Finland. He learned to play the mandolin and violin at the age of nine and has been composing since that time. Growing up he loved the great romantic symphonists, and while still at school he wrote several string quartets and sonatas for solo violin, as well as his first orchestral piece - all without any instruction, straight from listening. After graduating from high school, he began studying mathematics and at the same time studied composition at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki with Einojuhani Rautavaara, the versatile, colorful and technically adept pluralist of styles, who can now be considered Finland's most popular symphonist after Sibelius. Rautavaara's undogmatic approach was ideal for Aho, who would far surpass his teacher in stylistic pluralism. As early as 1969, in the first year of his studies, he wrote his first symphony, a highly astonishing, excellently crafted work of great design, permeated with youthful genius, which immediately enabled him to break through in his Finnish homeland. Perfect mastery of technique, especially of the large orchestra, and free flight of imagination are the hallmarks of his work, which reveals itself in extremely different facets from work to work. To date, Aho has composed sixteen symphonies, which can be seen as a kind of creative core of his oeuvre. He is no less important as an opera composer, but so far none of his operas have appeared on CD, which has an inhibiting effect on distribution. His opera production is of eminent interest, as he is by nature a musical dramatist with powerful visuals, highly talented in suggestive psychological guidance and illumination of the acting characters and events as well as in depicting the tragic and bizarre. Aho also has a lucky hand for timelessly topical and at the same time complexly demanding subjects, just think of works like The Life of Insects or When We All Drowned. Above all, in addition to three advanced chamber symphonies, his virtuoso chamber music cannot be overlooked, at the center of which is the series of quintets for wind instruments and strings in very differently mixed instrumentations (e.g. the tonally and structurally highly original quintet for alto saxophone, bassoon, viola, Cello and double bass from 1994, which, as is so often the case with him, is »about elementary opposites that determine our lives: about harmony and destructiveness, joy and despair, balance and imbalance, life and lifelessness«.) As a symphonist, Aho has broken through all the boundaries that are often imposed on the genre (especially in the 1975–80 Symphonies Nos. 5 and 6), and with his Fourth, Ninth and Tenth Symphonies he has created works that rank among the most substantial in this field was created in our time. »I have always composed catastrophes. But I have no catastrophic ideologies. There is just so much tension, something violent has to happen and the structure can break. This is then a form that 'breaks' in its tension.« The harpsichordist and pianist Andreas Skouras has now taken on the work of Kalevi Aho and presents a brilliant recording of the music for piano solo, which is as diverse as it is unpredictable, pianistically crossing borders and masterfully realized in terms of content and form. Skouras wrote the following notes on the individual compositions: »Kalevi Aho's piano works are imbued with his outstanding orchestral thinking. The polyrhythmic, the superimposition of several layers of different events and the resulting sound often correspond to that of a large orchestra. The best example of this is the Sonata from 1980. In three movements, in clearly separated but uninterrupted parts, it is Aho's most important solo work for piano. The intervals of the major and minor third form the seed of the development. The first movement, a kind of improvisation, contrasts various elements. Mysterious garlands alternate with rhythmically unsteady moments, cluster-like chords and free melodies. The second movement, a toccata, pushes the limits of what can be played pianistically. The stringent rhythm becomes increasingly dense through the overlapping of voices and culminates in a prestissimo coda, which, after wild cluster outbursts and a fading scale, heralds the extensive third movement with the signal of a third – the real heart of the work. Large and solemn, like a lament, orchestrally arranged with luxurious wind chords on the one hand and string-like tremolos on the other, this is a prime example of a piano sound ideal, as Liszt tried to portray in many of his works. The instrument not only becomes an orchestra, but represents the apotheosis of sound and expression. Solo II belongs to the group of works of the same name, which runs like a red thread through the composer's chamber music oeuvre. In concept it is very similar to the sonata. Here, too, the form is in three parts: Introduction / Improvisation – Quick – Coda. Slow. But here the solo element moves more to the fore, the piano remains the piano, following the tradition of great concert solos of the Romantic era. It is interesting that the third – major, minor and layered on top of each other – forms the starting point of the work and remains the formative interval of the tonal language. The alternation and the merging of the two intervals convey the impression of bitonality, but Aho manages to skilfully avoid the major-minor tonality as such by dispensing with the fifth and thus completing the chords in major or minor shows the third intervals as two sides of the same coin. The Sonatina is a very successful example of giving weight to the genre of the same name, which is considered easy. The first movement is classical, a rhythmically distinctive toccata, followed by a three-part song-like andante, which is interrupted by short chorale-like sections. The work closes with a perpetuum mobile, which takes up elements of the first two movements, combines them with one another and thus convincingly spans the entire piece. Aho's first published piano pieces from 1971 also bear witness to the attempt to transfer the orchestral idea to the piano. The first piece, Maestoso, begins with powerful chords, expands in the second part to include pedal points and ends in the illusion of a piece for three hands. The second piece, Tranquillo, is a quiet chorale and the concluding piece, Maestoso, is a study in octaves and complementary rhythms. The Allegretto, a small commissioned composition, is fun à la Shostakovich and an ideal encore piece. The Andante, on the other hand, is actually an orchestral piece. It was transposed to the piano by the composer from the first movement of his own 4th symphony. Among Aho's earliest compositions are the 19 Preludes for piano from 1965–68, which the self-critical composer later withdrew. Fortunately, however, he agreed to this CD publication of a cross-section of the collection. These pieces are not only testimonies to the early development of a highly gifted musician, they bring to light an astonishing depth and prove to be clear harbingers of Aho's later very own tonal language. Occasional proximity to Brahms (No. 11 and No. 14) or Chopin (No. 10) does not detract from this impression. Their diversity makes them a fascinating panopticon of ideas and listening impressions. Halla is the Finnish word for the surprising first frost in autumn or a late frost in spring. The great Finnish poet Eino Leino also used this term for a poem. But Aho's only piece for violin and piano is not to be understood as program music. The title serves as inspiration. The introduction is solemn (think of Solo II), the following part flowing and soft. Aho, who is a violinist himself, achieves a certain balance in the appearance of the instruments, which together formulate their thoughts and complement each other. An open contrast is deliberately avoided«. Christopher Schlüren |
program:
Sonata (1980) 16:35 [01] 1st quaver 138 03:50
Solo II (1985) 13:20 [04] Tranquillo 03:22
[06] Halla for violin and piano (1992) 08:15
Sonatina (1993) 07:05 [07] 1. Toccata (Presto) 01:40
Three Small Piano Pieces (1971) 04:45 [10] 1. Majestic 02:34
Two Easy Piano Pieces for Children (1983) 02:05 [13] 1.Allegretto 00:33
19 preludes (1965-68) 21:36 [15] No. 1 tranquillity 01:50
Total playing time: 74:22 Andrew Skouras, Piano
|
Press:
This article was published in March 2018 in which Dr. Hartmut Hein compares Andreas Skouras' recording of the piano works Kalevi Ahos with that of Sonja Fräkis from 2014: https://magazin.klassik.com/reviews/reviews.cfm?TASK=REVIEW&RECID=32221&REID=17601
08/17 Kalevi Aho (born 1949) is best known as a creator of orchestral works (16 symphonies!); his oeuvre for piano has remained comparatively small. Strange given the quality evident in Andreas Skouras' almost complete overview. The weighty and the aphoristic are balanced here, also insofar as the important always sounds accessible and the "little things" can open up unexpected abysses. This is not least due to Skoura's interpretations, which are so differentiated in terms of sound and sensuality as well as rhythmically gripping. The three-movement "Sonata" (1980) and the "Solo II" (1985) demand everything that an advanced pianist can muster in terms of virtuosity and expressive creative ability. They vacillate between lyrical pause and propelling motor activity, present dazzling harmonic states of levitation and orchestral thinking in complex rhythms. The prestissimo of the sonata ends in violent cluster discharges, the expansive Tranquillo molto begins with quiet islands of sound and ends in Lisztian orchestral evocations. The first recording of the somewhat old-fashioned "Halla" for violin and piano (1992), on the other hand, presents an elegiac, transfigured dialogue in nocturnal sound values. Even the more modest pieces have it all: The “Three Small Piano Pieces” (1971) seem to pay homage to Shostakovich with their fleshed-out texture and sardonic nuances; the "Two Easy Piano Pieces for Children" (1983) hide bizarre outbursts of violence in a funny scherzo guise. Also noteworthy are the "19 Preludes" (1965-68), which demonstrate the enormous talent of the then 16-year-old composer. Although the cycle is still clearly based on late romantic models, it contains extremely mature, expressive inspirations that can radiate deadly seriousness in "Grave". Dirk Wieschollek
07 / 2017 […] “Sonata” (1980) and “Solo” (1985) demand everything an advanced pianist can muster in terms of virtuosity and expressive creativity. The “Prestissimo” of the “Sonata” ends in violent cluster discharges, the expansive “Tranquillo molto” begins quietly and leads to Lisztian orchestral evocations. Even the more modest pieces have it all. […] Andreas Skouras' interpretations are sonically differentiated and rhythmically gripping. Dirk Wieschollek
CD tip Andreas Skouras begins his exciting CD, which contains the piano works of the renowned Finnish composer Kalevi Aho, born in 1949, with his most important and in every respect most demanding work, the "Sonata" from 1980. It sounds rich in contrast and colorful like a huge three-movement orchestral piece. It ends with early preludes by the 16 to 19 year olds, which offer a nice insight into the musician's development and are a good start for the listener. In between there is a fine Sonatina (1993), witty little pieces and "Halla" for violin and piano. Klaus Kalchschmid |
