KALEVI AHO (b.1949): Symphony for Organ "Alles Vergängliche", 3 Interludes.
Catalogue Number: 10O085
Label: BIS
Reference: SACD-1946
Format: CD
Price: $19.98
Description: The Interludes were adapted by the composer from organ solo cadenzas in his Symphony No. 8. The pieces have an increasingly strong sense of tonality; the first two are virtuosic, while the third, beginning with a massive sequence of chords, ends in the radiant stillness of an arctic landscape. The impressive symphony for solo organ, its title and something of its character taken from Goethe's 'Faust', is a thematically interrelated and developed symphonic structure, conceived idiomatically in terms of the organ. In fact, it sounds like an Aho symphony, with the composer's characteristic expanded sense of tonality and the drama and momentum that his symphonic output exhibits; it also achieves the unusual feat amongst contemporary organ works, of sounding almost totally unlike Messiaen. A free Fantasia gains momentum and mass, acting as a prelude to an understated, thoroughly worked out double fugue. A large central slow movement expands from mysterious, shadowy beginnings to a monumental climax, and is followed by a second fugue which reintroduces material from the first before a blazing toccata and ethereal epilogue bring the piece to a close. Jan Lehtola (Åkerman & Lund organ of St. Johannes Church, Malmö, Sweden). SACD hybrid