Epifania

Epifania is dedicated to the Finnish conductor Juha Kangas. We have been close friends since 1991 when he directed the first performance of my 1st Symphony ’Balsis · Stimmen’.

Epifania is a brief, tranquil composition with an extremely measured sonorous string sound primarily played con sordino. A lyrical theme is introduced at the beginning which is varied during the central section with cumulative exhilaration, only to reappear a third time in inverted form in the final section, accompanied by the divisi violins playing an old Latvian folk song. As an unspoken motto above the music, I can see the question: what remains at the end of a life full of music? Pēteris Vasks

Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra’s new CD Epifania (Epiphany) includes works by five composers of our time, some of who have direct links with the orchestra and conductor. Four of the works are heard here as world premiere recordings. Tiensuu’s Sulci and Meriläinen’s Summer Concerto were both specially commissioned works by the orchestra.

Vask’s work Epifania was dedicated to the conductor of this recording, Juha Kangas. Vasks says he got the idea for its main theme while walking by the Baltic Sea one summer’s evening.

Flute Mystery

Only the full symphony orchestra can impose the true emotional dynamics of the arctic nature. FLUTE MYSTERY is a collection of five orchestral works by Norwegian composer Fred Jonny Berg. In this distinctive and dynamic surround sound recording, the Philharmonia Orchestra with Emily & Catherine Beynon as soloists on flute & harp are conducted by the legendary Vladimir Ashkenazy.

Vladimir Ashkenazy: I am very fond of Scandinavian mentality, the way people express themselves and their spiritual world. It has always been a very special treat for me to conduct and play Scandinavian music and it is a particular pleasure to introduce to the world a very talented Norwegian composer Fred Jonny Berg whose music in its own way is a genuine reflection of his world.

Berg's music is often described as melodious, accessible and dramatic, yet with a highly original quality. Berg himself tries to explain: It is really as simple as it is complicated - I breathe in what life has to offer, and breathe out what I have to offer life. I have given up trying to grasp what actually happens in the process from impression to expression. In his music Fred Jonny Berg reveals himself as a person who has experienced that life consists of light and dark, but unlike the majority of us he approaches both with a similar undaunted decisiveness; it adds an extra quality to his music: the conviction of an eyewitness.