Kaiku (Echo): Finnish Contemporary Works For Cello – Jonathan Roozeman

Finnish-Dutch cellist Jonathan Roozeman presents a program of contemporary works for cello by Finnish composers. For some pieces, he is accompanied by pianist and composer Johannes Piirto. The program centers on a sonata by the seasoned composer Kalevi Aho; the six works in the program reflect the diversity of contemporary Finnish music and were all composed over the past fifteen years. Sauli Zinovjev’s “Sustained” emerges as a ghostly, dissonant, fragmented reflection on Romantic music. Cecilia Damström’s “Aveo” was composed for people suffering from Long COVID who have had to say goodbye to their normal lives. “Recitativo” by Sebastian Fagerlund, a commissioned work for a cello competition, challenges cellists not only in their mastery of the instrument but also in their interpretive skills. “Sanasi, kiveen uponneet” by Outi Tarkiainen—a composer who brings the perspective of someone born in the north, in Finnish Lapland, into her music—is characterized by powerful soundscapes inspired by natural phenomena, as well as by human themes that speak to humanity’s deepest emotions. The program concludes with “We Lie Down Only to Get Up Again” by Lauri Porra, a composer who embodies the diversity of contemporary Finnish music. This work evokes the atmosphere of a summer morning, full of warmth, perhaps even with a touch of longing.