Einojuhani Rautavaara
Einojuhani Rautavaara (1928–2016) was a Finnish composer of classical music, among the most widely heard Finnish voices after Sibelius. His large output moves from early serial writing to neo-romantic and mystical scores across symphonies, concertos, operas, and chamber music.
Works such as Cantus Arcticus, the piano concertos, and the Seventh Symphony Angel of Light carried his name far beyond Finland, while a steady stream of sonatas and smaller pieces kept chamber players supplied.
His writing for cello is gathered on Rautavaara: Cello Music (TP156), spanning nearly fifty years from the Two Preludes and Fugues of 1955 through the austere Solo Sonata and the later sonatas with piano. The demanding piano sonata Fire Sermon (MCD 346) belongs to the same restless craft: tightly motivic, often virtuosic, and unafraid of sudden shifts of colour and force.
Compositions by Einojuhani Rautavaara appear on
Matthew Kam introduces the new Schimmel K 230
A wide-ranging solo programme opens with Brahms’s demanding Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Handel. Matthew Kam and the Schimmel K 230 meet its musical and technical challenges with striking tonal beauty and colour.