KALEVI AHO

 

Tuba and Contrabassoon Concertos

 

Concerto for Tuba and Orchestra (2000-01)

Øystein Baadsvik (tuba),

Norrköping Symphony Orchestra, Mats Rondin

 

Concerto for Contrabassoon and Orchestra (2004-05)

Lewis Lipnick (contrabassoon),

Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra / Andrew Litton

 

Two unusual solo instruments are the focus of this all-Aho disc. Indeed, in the case of the contrabassoon (or double bassoon), Kalevi Aho’s work is one of the very few concertos that exist. It is also by far the most demanding and extensive. In fact, the solo part became playable only after recent developments of the instrument itself, extending its compass upwards.

 

While composers have treated the tuba slightly more generously, there was certainly room for another concerto in the repertoire when Aho composed this one in 2001. Both instruments are in fact more accustomed to being called in by composers for comic effect than solo instruments. However, Aho underlines the great capacity of the two for cantabile singing, a quality that he has endeavoured to bring out in their respective concertos.

 

A recent release of Aho works, BISCD1336, was described in Gramophone as “a superb coupling of two strongly communicative contemporary works...which demonstrate Aho’s comprehensive mastery of rhythm, timbre and drama”. These qualities are to the fore in the present works as well, with the tuba concerto featuring operatic, impassioned musical gestures, and the monumental contrabassoon concerto exploiting the instrument’s extremely wide register, contemplative qualities and surprising technical agility.

 

The soloists are Øystein Baadsvik, whose previous tuba discs for BIS have been highly acclaimed, and Lewis Lipnick, for whom the contrabassoon concerto was composed.

 

BISCD1574