Aulis Sallinen - Symphonies Nos. 3 & 5 (Ari Rasilainen)

Information

Composer: Aulis Sallinen

• (01) Symphony No. 3, Op. 35
• (04) Symphony No. 5, Op. 57 'Washington Mosaics'

Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz
Ari Rasilainen, conductor

Date: 2008
Label: cpo

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Review

ARTISTIC QUALITY: 8 / SOUND QUALITY: 9

After the success of his first operas and symphonies, Aulis Sallinen settled into a style characterized by strongly colored instrumental gestures and long stretches consisting of little more than “atmosphere”. While this may work well enough on the stage, its effectiveness in symphonic composition is questionable, as these two pieces demonstrate. Though often ear-catching in terms of sheer sonority, their static quality and lack of harmonic variety produce an overall impression of glumness, particularly in the Fifth Symphony. However, the performances and sonics are certainly up to the high level of previous releases in this series, and the bottom line is that if you are collecting the Sallinen orchestral works, you’ll want this. If you’re new to Sallinen, though, start with the disc containing the Fourth Symphony, one of his strongest works in the form.

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday

More reviews:
https://www.allmusic.com/album/aulis-sallinen-symphonies-3-5-mw0001875390
https://www.amazon.com/Symphonies-3-5-Rasilaine/dp/B0015RWD8E

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Aulis Sallinen (born 9 April 1935) is a Finnish contemporary classical music composer. He attended the Sibelius Academy and studied with Aarre Merikanto and Joonas Kokkonen, among others. Though Sallinen was a known teacher and was on many boards of directors, his compositions were not particularly noted until he was made "Artist Professor" by the Finnish government in 1976, letting him concentrate on composing. He has had works commissioned by the Kronos Quartet, and has also written 7 operas, 8 symphonies, concertos for violin, cello, flute, horn, and English horn, as well as chamber works.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aulis_Sallinen

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Ari Rasilainen (born 18 February 1959 in Helsinki) is a Finnish conductor. Rasilainen studied under Jorma Panula (conducting) at the Sibelius Academy, and later under Arvid Jansons (conducting) and Alexander Lobko (violin) in Berlin. He started his career as a violinist and was leader of the 2nd violins with the Helsinki Philharmonic (1980-1986). Rasilainen was Chief Conductor of the Lappeenranta City Orchestra (1984-1989), the Norwegian Radio Symphony (1994-2002), and the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz (2002-2009). He has recorded More than 50 recordings for various labels.
https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ari_Rasilainen
http://www.arirasilainen.fi/

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