Aho: Concerto for Soprano Saxophone & Chamber Orchestra and Quintet for Winds & Piano Anders Paulsson

• Kalevi Aho (1949): Saxophone Concerto:
• 1 I. Invocatio - Presto - Cadenza 11:47
• 2 II. Misterioso, largo 04:40
• 3 III. Allegretto marcato - Presto - Quasi epilogo 06:58
• Quintet for Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, Horn & Piano:
• 4 I. Tranquillo - Allegretto ondeggiante 09:04
• 5 II. Toccata 04:39
• 6 III. Nocturno 05:42
• 7 IV. Burlesco 04:46
• Solo I "Tumultos":
• 8 Solo I "Tumultos" 09:46
• Total Runtime 57:22

Info for Aho: Concerto for Soprano Saxophone & Chamber Orchestra and Quintet for Winds & 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 which 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 with 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 Storgårds have collaborated with the composer on several projects, and the Concerto for Soprano Saxophone is 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 Väinö 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 almost 10-minute long 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 longtime Aho collaborator, the violinist Jaakko Kuusisto, who has previously performed the solo part of the composer’s Symphony No.3 for violin and orchestra.

“The work is devoted to Anders Paulsson, whose delicate, ECM-style interpretation style has guided the concerto. Paulsson is loaded with all the necessary intensity and he carries the melodies gloriously. He also realizes multiplayer features chordically and naturally. It is probably thanks also to Aho, who is always familiar with the solo instruments. The role of the Chamber Orchestra in the concerto is to create mysterious shades of watercolors and to engage in dialogue with bright secco solos, and the Lapland Chamber Orchestra does really well.” (Kare Eskola, Yle Klassinen)

“Anders Paulsson has developed Soprano Saxophone playing to an unprecedented, sensational top level!” (Kalevi Aho)

Anders Paulsson, soprano saxophone
Lapland Chamber Orchestra
John Storgard, conductor

Anders Paulsson
Since his Carnegie Hall debut in 1992, Anders Paulsson (1961) is widely recognized as one of the finest soprano saxophonists in the world. His musicianship has inspired a succession of over 50 international composers to write solo concertos and chamber music for him.

He has performed in major music centres like Alice Tully Hall in New York, Berlin Philharmonie, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Wigmore Hall in London, Palau de la Musica in Valencia, Moscow International Performing Arts Centre and Kitakyushu Performing Arts Centre i Japan.In 2012 Anders Paulsson was awarded the Royal Gold Medal Litteris et Artibus for his prominent artistic achievements as soprano saxophonist.

Anders has performed hundreds of concerts as a soloist in 25 countries and released 22 CDs. His pioneering CD recording Swedish Concertos for Soprano Saxophone with music by Anders Eliasson, Rolf Martinsson & Sven-David Sandström has received praise in Gramophone as a real high.

He has performed as soloist with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in Stockholm, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and St. Petersburg Philharmonic and has collaborated with conductors such as John Storgårds, Lü Jia, Okku Kamu, Eva Ollikainen, Johannes Gustavsson, Fabio Mastrangelo & Lan Shui.

After classical saxophone studies at the Royal College in Stockholm and with Jean-Marie Londeix in France, a Fulbright ITT International Fellowship enabled him to study with Joseph Allard and Bob Mintzer at Manhattan School of Music, New York City. As a composer, Anders Paulsson was awarded “The Golden Clapperboard” for best original film music in 1994 together with Johan Söderqvist.

2013-2014 Anders Paulsson was Composer-in-Residence at the MIAGI Youth Symphony Orchestra in South Africa.

Many of his performances have been broadcast on international television and radio and his recordings have received high acclaim from music critics and audiences worldwide. At the Nobel festivities in 1993 Anders Paulsson performed for Nelson Mandela when he received the Nobel Peace Prize and for the Nobel Prize winners of Medicine in 2003. Anders Paulsson seeks to use music to promote international understanding, peace and biosphere stewardship.

He is the co-founder of Coral Guardians www.coralguardians.org, an organisation that combines music and science to raise awareness about the world’s coral reefs and what is needed to safeguard them for future generations.

A highlight of this endeavor is Anders Paulsson ́s Symphonic composition Kumulipo Reflections= the Coral Symphony World Premiere with Hawai ́i Symphony Orchestra conducted by Grammy winning JoAnn Falletta featuring the Hawaiian Creation Epic Kumulipo performed by Aaron Mahi.

Booklet for Aho: Concerto for Soprano Saxophone & Chamber Orchestra and Quintet for Winds & Piano