Content:

Joonas Kokkonen
Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2
Opus sonorum



Artists:
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Sakari Oramo, conductor

Genres:
Orchestral
Finnish contemporary

Features:

Booklet with liner notes in English, German, French and Finnish

Format:
CD

Released:
January 2009

Catalogue No.:
ODE 1129-2

EAN/UPC Code:
0761195112922

Track listing

CD 51:50
Joonas Kokkonen (1921-1996)
Symphony No. 1 (1960) 21:04
1 I. Moderato 7:00
2 II. Allegretto 4:09
3 III. Allegro - 4:09
4 IV. Adagio 5:47
Symphony No. 2 (1961) 21:08
5 I. Adagio non troppo - 5:32
6 II. Allegro 4:43
7 III. Andante - 7:28
8 IV. Allegro vivace 3:26
Opus sonorum (1964)
9 I. Moderato - II. Adagio non troppo - III. Allegro non troppo 9:18



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Awards

Pizzicato 'Supersonic Award'

Press review

Oramo und sein wunderschönes Orchester lassen Kokkonens Musik ebenso transparent wie effektvoll aufleuchten, so dass der Hörer einen wirklichen und spannenden Einblick in diese spröde und doch immer fasinierende Musik erhält.
Alain Steffen, Pizzicato, April 2009, Supersonic Award

For Finnish conductor, Sakari Oramo, a man with a yen for reviving neglected composers, Joonas Kokkonen is an important figure. He's the 'missing link' between the great Jan Sibelius and a new generation of Finnish composers such as Magnus Lindberg.
Ivan Hewett, The Daily Telegraph, February 11, 2009

Oramo gets playing of real bite and energy (...).
David Fanning, Gramophone, February 2009

It was the works Joonas Kokkonen composed in the early 1960s that established his international reputation and made him one of the most significant composers Finland produced in the decades after the second world war.
Andrew Clements, The Guardian, January 2, 2009

As with its superb predecessor, this disc offers outstanding performance.
David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com, January 2009, Artistic Quality 9 / Sound Quality 10


Complete description

Joonas Kokkonen is considered "Finland's most significant composer after Sibelius" (American Record Guide). However, he still awaits discovery among many lovers of accessible contemporary music. Sakari Oramo and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, unrivaled champions of Finnish late 20th-century music, have taken up this task with a complete Kokkonen symphonies cycle: The benchmark first volume (ODE 1098-2) was unanimously hailed by the press as a "must-have disc". On this new release, they perform the first two symphonies, coupled with Opus sonorum for orchestra. Written in the years following Sibelius's death in 1957, these masterpieces reveal Kokkonen's affinity with the music of J.S. Bach and his full exploration of expressive tonal colours.