Einojuhani Rautavaara

Lost Landscapes

(Works for violin and orchestra)

Sleeve notes in English

World première recordings of 'In the Beginning' and 'Lost Landscapes' (orchestral version)

Conductor Robert Trevino’s fourth album release on Ondine is focused on the late works of composer Einojuhani Rautavaara (1928–2016), one of Finland’s most celebrated composers after Sibelius and known worldwide for his Neo-Romantic, even mystic compositions. Together with violinist Simone Lamsma and the Malmö Symphony Orchestra the artists are presenting four final orchestral works by the celebrated composer. Two of the works are world première recordings.

In his late period, Rautavaara received several communications from the world’s leading violinists requesting him to write worksfor them. He was able to oblige them, creating several extensive works featuring solo violin. Fantasia (2015) for violin and orchestra is a work of soft Neo-Romantic harmonies and soaring melodic lines. The overall mood is one of pastoral serenity. In 2014, Rautavaara was asked to write a new Violin Concerto. This commission resulted in Deux Sérénades for violin and orchestra which remained unfinished at Rautavaara’s death: the second movement was sketched out, but only its beginning was orchestrated. Kalevi Aho (b. 1949), an accomplished composer of symphonies and concertos who studied composition with Rautavaara at the turn of the 1970s, fleshed out the orchestration in 2018. Particularly in the first serenade, Sérénade pour mon amour, the orchestration is achingly beautiful in its unrestrictedly soaring Romantic melodic flow, balancing delicately on the cusp of the warmth of love and the melancholy of farewell. Lost Landscapes (2005/15) was originally written as a violin sonata, but Rautavaara began orchestrating the work in 2013. The first movement was premiered at the contemporary music festival at Tanglewood in July 2015, but the full premiere of the work took place in Malmö in March 2021, with Simone Lamsma as soloist. In the Beginning (2015) is a concise overture-type work commissioned for a concert opener. The titles of his works were important for the composer, forming part of the ‘aura’ of the work and often even constituting the initial impulse for writing the piece in the first place. In this case, the composer might have meant a dream or impression of a new beginning in another dimension. Its conclusion is not final but leaves the listener anticipating what might come next.

Hailed for her “brilliant… polished, expressive and intense” (Cleveland Plain Dealer) and “absolutely stunning” (Chicago Tribune) playing, Dutch violinist Simone Lamsma is respected by critics, peers and audiences as one of classical music’s most striking and captivating musical personalities. Conductor Jaap van Zweden with whom Simone enjoys a regular collaboration, describes her as one of the leading violinists in the world. Simone’s recent seasons have seen her perform with many of the world’s leading orchestras. Notable recent highlights include her debut with the New York Philharmonic and with the Chicago Symphony, described by the Chicago Tribune as “piercingly beautiful”, as well as return invitations to the Cleveland Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Seoul Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Warsaw Philharmonic and Dallas Symphony Orchestra.

Malmö Symphony Orchestra (MSO) is one of Sweden’s leading symphony orchestras. Performing the full breadth of the symphonic repertoire on a high international level, MSO also collaborates frequently with prominent composers in commissions of contemporary music. MSO tours regularly to the world’s greatest concert halls with recent appearances at Het Concertgebouw, Elbphilharmonie and Semperoper Dresden among others. These tours and the Malmö Live Concert Hall, with its world class acoustics, have put Malmö on the musical map of Europe. Malmö Live was inaugurated in August 2015 by Malmö Symphony Orchestra. Recent recording highlights include a celebrated Beethoven cycle with Robert Trevino.

Robert Trevino’s star has risen rapidly among American conductors. The past years have seen his appointments as Music Director of the Basque National Orchestra and Chief Conductor of the Malmö Symphony Orchestra. In 2021 The Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai (the RAI National Symphony Orchestra) announced the appointment of Robert Trevino as their new Principal Guest Conductor for the initial period of three years starting in the 2021/22 season. Trevino and the Malmö Symphony Orchestra (Malmö SymfoniOrkester) have also announced a mutual commitment for a further two years, with Trevino assuming the position of Artistic Advisor for the 2021/22 season. Trevino burst into the international spotlight at the Bolshoi Theater in December 2013, leading a new production of Verdi’s Don Carlo. He was nominated for a Golden Mask award, and one reviewer wrote, “There has not been an American success of this magnitude in Moscow since Van Cliburn.” Recent seasons have seen an ever-growing number of major debuts with orchestras around the world, including the London Symphony Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic, Tonhalle Zurich, San Francisco Symphony, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Sao Paulo Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Orchestre Nationale de France, Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin, and Helsinki Philharmonic, among others.