Antti Leinonen; Sonja Vertainen; Janne Valkeajoki; Petteri Waris; Keski-Pohjanmaan Kamariorkesteri; Tomas Djupsjopacka - Minna Leinonen; Aulis Sallisen; Veli Kujala: Finnish Accordion Concertos

Finnish Accordion Concertos contains the works of three Finnish composers for accordion. The album opens with Vyory (2021), composed by Minna Leinonen (b. 1977), one of the rising names of her generation, performed by accordion artist and pedagogue Antti Leinonen as soloist of KPKO. The piece was premiered with the same force in 2022, and the composer says that during the composition process, worldwide changes swept through society, and in the piece you can hear accelerating eruptions, flows and culminations. Concerto for two accordions, string orchestra and percussionist by Aulis Sallisen (b. 1935), one of the most internationally respected living Finnish composers, op. 115 (2018-19) was commissioned by Sampo Purontaus, Kokkola city's director of culture, Kokkola Talviharmonika and KPKO. In the piece originally planned for one accordion, two soloists - artists of the younger generation Janne Valkeajoki and Sonja Vertainen - are now able to dialogue. The composer wanted to anchor the piece in Ostrobothnian landscape and use the local folk tune in the second part of the concerto. The work premiered in 2020. The third piece on the album is the accordion concerto Shape-Shifter by composer, accordion virtuoso and Sibelius Academy lecturer Veli Kujala (b. 1976), whose soloist is Petteri Waris. The accordion acts as a tone color chameleon in the concerto; the accordion, which strives to blend in, grows through various transformations into the extrovert virtuoso soloist of the work. The work received its premiere performance in 2019.