AARRE MERIKANTO (1893-1958): Piano Trio in A Minor, JEAN SIBELIUS (1865-1957): En Saga Septet for Flute, Clarinet, String Quartet and Double Bass (arr. Gregory Barrett), JUKKA-PEKKA LEHTO (b.1958): Wind Quintet, SEBASTIAN FAGERLUND (b.1972): Imaginary Landscapes for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Piano, String Quartet and Double Bass.

Description: Merikanto's 1917 trio was not performed until 20 years later and was considered lost until the late 1980s. Coming before his more expressionist period, this is an attractive late Romantic piece possibly conceived during his studies with Reger. The notes on the Sibelius arrangement are maddenlingly threadbare; we don't know who Gregory Barrett is or when he did this but it's clear that the original motivic ideas Sibelius had for En Saga in 1891were destined for a septet in this instrumentation and Barrett made his arrangement based on the original 1893 version of the piece. Lehto's wind quintet was inspired by works of this genre by Ibert, Poulenc, Françaix and Bozza, so it's safe to recommend to fans of that Gallic style. Turku Ensemble; Pertti Pekkanen.