Mr McFall's Chamber - Solitudes: Baltic Reflections

CD

(March 2016)

16 Tracks: Toccata (Olli Mustonen) * Bangos (Zita Bruzaite) * Aulis Sallinen Introduction and Tango Overture (Aulis Sallinen) * Dedication (Erkki-Sven Tüür) * Lamento (Kalevi Aho)* Little Summer Music (Peteris Vasks) * Fur Alina (Arvo Part)* Taysikuu (Toivo Kärki) * Einsames Lied (Jean Sibelius) * Satumaa (Unto Mononen) * Finlandia Hymn (Jean Sibelius).

Mr McFall's Chamber play a programme of music from Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

No one knows quite when tango was established in Finland, but the style has a long history there – still little known to outsiders– and combines rhythmic interest and yearning melody with a distinctively Nordic melancholy.

In this ingeniously curated programme, two Finnish tangos from the 1950s and a tangobased work by Finnish classical composer Aulis Sallinen are woven into a bold tapestry of music from the Eastern Baltic seaboard.

Longing, sadness, and a heightened sense of nature infuse all of these works, which also reveal intriguing stylistic connections: the rocking accompaniment of Sibelius’s Einsames Lied seems to prefigure the 'Baltic minimalism' of Vasks, Pärt and Zita Bružaite, while Olli Mustonen’s Toccata alternates rhythmic verve with a rich vein of reflective memory.

These original compositions are complemented by Robert McFall's own sensitive arrangements for a core McFall's line-up of five strings and piano, and the programme culminates in a truly unique version of Sibelius’s famous Finlandia Hymn.

Cyril Garac (violin), Robert McFall (violin, viola), Brian Schiele (viola), Su-a Lee (cello), Rick Standley (double bass), Maria Martinova (piano).

"beautifully conveyed by six very connected musicians" (Bachtrack)

"An imaginatively chosen, beautifully recorded programme starting and finishing in Finland ... Performances do full justice to the project in a disc that is well worth exploring." Guy Weatherall Classic Music Magazine, September 2015