Paulsson/Lapland/Storgards - Kalevi Aho: Concerto for Soprano Saxophone, Quintet for winds and piano

To date, Kalevi Aho has composed sixteen symphonies and twenty-eight concertos, several operas and a large number of chamber works � a rate of production that is all the more impressive considering the complexity and originality displayed by each new work. On this latest in a long series of BIS releases of Aho�s music, two of his most recent works are performed by the musicians of the Lapland Chamber Orchestra. The orchestra and its artistic director John Storg�rds have collaborated with the composer on several projects, and the Concerto for Soprano Saxophoneis a commission from the orchestra, at the suggestion of the Swedish saxophonist Anders Paulsson. A specialist on the soprano saxophone, Paulsson also demonstrated the instrument�s capabilities to Aho as part of his preparations. The Quintet for Winds and Piano was composed just over a year before the concerto and is here heard in a performance by the pianist V�in� Jalkanen, and woodwind players from the Lapland orchestra. The reason for the unusual combination of instruments is that the work was intended as a companion piece to Mozart�s quintet for the same forces. Closing the disc, finally, is the Solo I for violin, the first in the composer�s series of virtuosic solo pieces for each of the instruments of the orchestra. It was composed in 1975 and receives a performance from another long time Aho collaborator, the violinist Jaakko Kuusisto, who has previously performed the solo part of the composer�s Symphony No. 3 for violin and orchestra.