Rautavaara + Aho: Joy & Asymmetry Helsinki Chamber Choir & Nils Schweckendiek

• Einojuhani Rautavaara (1928 - 2016): Die erste Elegie (The First Elegy):
• 1 Rautavaara: Die erste Elegie (The First Elegy) 09:50
• Kalevi Aho (b. 1949): Kolme laulua Mawlana Rumin runoihin:
• 2 Aho: Kolme laulua Mawlana Rumin runoihin: I. Kotiin! (Homewards!) 04:16
• 3 Aho: Kolme laulua Mawlana Rumin runoihin: II. Yksin sinä (You alone) 04:41
• 4 Aho: Kolme laulua Mawlana Rumin runoihin: III. Kuolkaa! (Die!) 03:44
• Einojuhani Rautavaara: Unsere Liebe (Our Love):
• 5 Rautavaara: Unsere Liebe (Our Love): I. Meine Liebe (My Love) 01:44
• 6 Rautavaara: Unsere Liebe (Our Love): II. Dann, in jener Nacht (Then, that Night) 03:31
• 7 Rautavaara: Unsere Liebe (Our Love): III. Der Brief (The Letter) 01:58
• 8 Rautavaara: Unsere Liebe (Our Love): IV. Flüstern (Whispering) 02:39
• Kalevi Aho: Ilo ja epäsymmetria (Joy and Asymmetry):
• 9 Aho: Ilo ja epäsymmetria (Joy and Asymmetry): I. Kuljin nuoralla (I walked a tightrope) 02:10
• 10 Aho: Ilo ja epäsymmetria (Joy and Asymmetry): II. Aina olin (I was always) 01:03
• 11 Aho: Ilo ja epäsymmetria (Joy and Asymmetry): III. Suupielessä naurun hiljainen aihe (A hint of laughter in the corner of your mouth) 00:49
• 12 Aho: Ilo ja epäsymmetria (Joy and Asymmetry): IV. Sateen syksyt (Rainy autumns) 01:49
• 13 Aho: Ilo ja epäsymmetria (Joy and Asymmetry): V. Tuoli seisoi (The chair stood) 02:03
• 14 Aho: Ilo ja epäsymmetria (Joy and Asymmetry): VI. Kirkkaudessa (Out of the brightness) 01:08
• 15 Aho: Ilo ja epäsymmetria (Joy and Asymmetry): VII. Seison tuulessa (I stand in the wind) 02:36
• Einojuhani Rautavaara: Ave Maria, gratia plena:
• 16 Rautavaara: Ave Maria, gratia plena 03:45
• Elämän kirja (A Book of Life):
• 17 Rautavaara: Elämän kirja (A Book of Life): I. Kindheit (Childhood) 03:47
• 18 Rautavaara: Elämän kirja (A Book of Life): II. L'amoureuse (The Woman in Love) 01:05
• 19 Rautavaara: Elämän kirja (A Book of Life): III. Ma bohème (My Bohemian Days) 02:05
• 20 Rautavaara: Elämän kirja (A Book of Life): IV. Hope is the thing with feathers 01:15
• 21 Rautavaara: Elämän kirja (A Book of Life): V. Are you ready? 01:41
• 22 Rautavaara: Elämän kirja (A Book of Life): VI. La mort des pauvres (Death of the Poor) 02:06
• 23 Rautavaara: Elämän kirja (A Book of Life): VII. Es lacht in dem steigendem Jahr (The Tides of the Year for you Breathe Still) 01:34
• 24 Rautavaara: Elämän kirja (A Book of Life): VIII. Song of Myself 06:40
• Total Runtime 01:07:59

Info for Rautavaara + Aho: Joy & Asymmetry

Einojuhani Rautavaara and Kalevi Aho, teacher and pupil, are both key figures in the Finnish music of their respective generations. Rautavaara's musical language evolved from neoclassicism through dodecaphony, and the stylistic freedom of the 1960s, before he eventually allowed himself to choose his expressive idiom according to the individual requirements of his works. Towards the end of his career, his works took on a very consistent, soft-toned character. For his part, Aho also began his career using a freely applied neoclassical style before gradually progressing to a more varied, at times modernist expressive and incisive approach.

The works featured on this disc offer a glimpse into the choral output of these two composers who, in addition to demonstrating their stylistic versatility, also reveal their literary curiosity. While Aho draws on contemporary Finnish literature, Rautavaara has recourse to poets of various origins and periods. The works are entrusted to the expert voices of the Helsinki Chamber Choir and its conductor, Nils Schweckendiek, who recently won an American Grammy for their disc devoted to the choral works of the late Kaija Saariaho.

Helsinki Chamber Choir
Nils Schweckendiek, director

The Helsinki Chamber Choir (Helsingin kamarikuoro)
was founded in 1962 as the Finnish Radio Chamber Choir and assumed its current name in 2005. It is currently Finland’s only professional chamber choir.

The choir’s Artistic Director from 2005–2007 was Kimmo Hakola. Since 2007 Nils Schweckendiek has been responsible for the group's artistic planning.

While its wide-ranging repertoire includes music from the Renaissance to the present day, the Helsinki Chamber Choir is particularly highly regarded for its work with new music. The choir regularly commissions new works and has given over 50 world premieres in the seasons since 2005, as well as more than 30 Finnish first performances. The choir appears frequently at major Finnish music festivals and collaborates with orchestras and Baroque and contemporary music ensembles. Recent touring has included concerts in Russia, Estonia and Belgium.

The Helsinki Chamber Choir's concerts are regularly broadcast on radio and television, both nationally and internationally. Particular highlights have been televised performances on the international cultural channel ARTE of Michael Haydn's Requiem in 2006 and Einojuhani Rautavaara's Vigilia in 2013.

The Helsinki Chamber Choir's recording of Magnus Lindberg's Graffiti (with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Sakari Oramo) was nominated for a Grammy in the contemporary music category in 2010. During its days as the Finnish Radio Chamber Choir, the group recorded a number of CDs for the Ondine label, including Rautavaara's complete works for mixed a cappella choir. The choir's most recent appearance on CD is in the world premiere recording of Veli-Matti Puumala's opera Anna Liisa (to be released in May 2015). A number of other recordings will appear in the near future.

Since 2012 the Helsinki Chamber Choir has been a member of Tenso, the association of European professional chamber choirs.

The Finnish Radio Chamber Choir’s principal conductors were Harald Andersén, Kaj-Erik Gustafsson, Ilmo Riihimäki, Eric-Olof Söderström and Timo Nuoranne. Alongside Nils Schweckendiek, in recent years the choir has worked with conductors including Kaspars Putnins, Fredrik Malmberg, Eric-Olof Söderström, Andres Mustonen, Olari Elts, Rachid Safir, Tim Brown, Anne Azéma, Aapo Häkkinen, James Wood and Rinaldo Alessandrini.

Nils Schweckendiek
studied music at Clare College, Cambridge, and orchestral and choral conducting in Freiburg and Helsinki. In 2006 he made his debut at the Finnish National Opera with Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier and subsequently conducted numerous opera and ballet performances at the same house. Guest performances have taken him to the Leipzig Opera (Der Rosenkavalier), the Savonlinna Opera Festival, Vaasa, Berne and Bielefeld. From 2009-2013 he was the conductor of the Ulm Opera, where he conducted first nights of, amongst others, Don Carlo (Verdi), Ariodante (Handel), Romeo and Juliet (Prokofiev), Der Ring an einem Abend (Wagner) and Le sacre du printemps (Stravinsky).

Nils Schweckendiek is committed to performing the music of our time and has conducted around eighty first performances, including music theatre, orchestral, choral and ensemble works. In 2013 his performance of Einojuhani Rautavaara's monumental Vigilia with the Helsinki Chamber Choir was televised on ARTE. He has worked with numerous orchestras in Finland, Germany, Spain, England, China and Estonia.

Since 2007 Nils Schweckendiek has been Artistic Director of the Helsinki Chamber Choir. In 2014 he was appointed Professor of Choral Conducting at the University of the Arts (Sibelius Academy) in Helsinki. Guest conducting has included the SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart and the Danish Radio National Concert Choir. In the 2015/16 season he will be appearing with Tapiola Sinfonietta, the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, the Finnish Baroque Orchestra, the Mannheim Opera Choir, the Netherlands Radio Choir, the Croatian Radio and TV Choir, and defunensemble. He is Founder and Artistic Director of the International Einojuhani Rautavaara Composition Competition, the second edition of which is being held in 2015/16.

Booklet for Rautavaara + Aho: Joy & Asymmetry