J. Kuusisto: Symphony; Pictured Within

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Label
BIS
Release Date
December 15, 2023
Format
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    Featuring
    • COMPOSER
      Jaakko Kuusisto, Anonymous, Kalevi Aho, Sally Beamish, Harrison Birtwistle, Richard Blackford, Gavin
    • ORCHESTRA / ENSEMBLE
      Bbc Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
    • PERFORMER
      BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
    Product Details
    • RELEASE DATE
      December 15, 2023
    • UPC
      7318590027479
    • CATALOG NUMBER
      BIS-2747
    • LABEL
      BIS
    • NUMBER OF DISCS
      1
    • GENRE
    Works
    1. Pictured Within

      Composer: Anon., Dai Fujikura, David Sawer, Sally Beamish, Colin Matthews, Iris ter Schiphorst, Brett Dean, Wim Henderickx, Richard Blackfird, Harrison Burtwistle, Judith Weir, Gavin Bryars, Kalevi Aho, Anthony Payne, John Pickard

      Ensemble: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Martyn Brabbins

    2. Symphony, Op. 39

      Composer: Jaakko Kuusisto

      Ensemble: Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra

      Conductor: Pekka Kuusisto


This disc is a double tribute. The first work, Pictured Within, is a collective effort conceived as a major project to mark the 60th birthday of conductor Martyn Brabbins, whose reputation in new music and British music is beyond reproach.

Following the pattern of Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations, Pictured Within is a series of 14 variations on a theme, each of which takes up the character of the equivalent variation in Elgar’s work, the difference being that here 14 different composers have each contributed a variation in tribute to Brabbins.

Also on the SACD is Jaakko Kuusisto’s Symphony, a fitting tribute to the composer, conductor, and violinist who passed away in 2022. Illness left Jaakko no time to complete his work, so it fell to his brother Pekka – who conducts here – and Jari Eskola to finish it. The result is a powerful piece, full of familiar themes and melodies derived from Jaakko’s existing compositions, to which are added autobiographical extra-musical elements. The moving conclusion is a collage of fragmented phrases inspired by the signals emitted by lighthouses and ships, as if Kuusisto’s spirit had been sent out to sea.