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Cover: Kimmo Hakola – Clarinet Concerto · Verdoyances crépuscules · Diamond Street

Kimmo Hakola

Clarinet Concerto

Verdoyances crépuscules · Diamond Street

Kari Kriikku, clarinet
Finnish RSO
Sakari Oramo, conductor

ODE 1063-2 · CD · November 2005

Buy / listen

Track listing

6 tracks · 59:09

Listen to samples on selected tracks.

Kimmo Hakola

  1. Clarinet Concerto (2001) 38:31
  2. 1 I. Introduzione 10:49
  3. 2 II. Hidden Songs 11:13
  4. 3 III. Allegro Farara 8:05
  5. 4 IV. Khasene 8:25
  6. 5 Verdoyances crépuscules (2004) 13:20
  7. 6 Diamond Street, for solo clarinet (1999) 7:17

About this recording

This CD includes Finnish composer Kimmo Hakola's Clarinet Concerto, a stirring and virtuoso work of nearly 40 minutes written for Kari Kriikku, the featured soloist. The recording also includes the solo clarinet piece Diamond Street, as well as the single-movement orchestral work Verdoyances crépuscules, which Hakola wrote on commission by the Finnish Broadcasting Company and features Esa Tukia on French horn. Sakari Oramo conducts the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Since the groundbreaking Capriole in 1991, written for the unusual combination of clarinet and cello (ODE 1102-2), Kimmo Hakola has written a number of works for clarinet, including a Clarinet Quintet and the solo piece Loco (ODE 960-2).

Features

Booklet with liner notes in English, German, French and Finnish

Press

Superbly played and recorded works from a driving force in Finnish music. (...) Hakola's present style is broadly tonal and incorporates elements from a wide range of styles, from the avant-garde to Hollywood-like sentimentality to oriental world music. It is a tribute to his compositional skill and the force of his creative personality that he is able to hold such a bewildering array together. (...) With demonstration-quality sound, this is all great fun.
Guy Rickards, Gramophone, May 2006

The Finnish Radio Symphony performs with remarkable panache and precision under Sakari Oramo's direction. (...) Ondine's recording (...) powerfully conveys the music's considerable dynamic impact.
Victor Carr Jr., ClassicsToday.com, April 2006

Kari Kriikku ist der schlichtweg phänomenale Solist, für den es scheinbar keine technische Schranken zu geben scheint.
Heinz Braun, Klassik-Heute.com, February 22, 2006

The artists

Kari Kriikku

Hailed by the New York Times as “A physically flamboyant player of Olympian virtuosity…”, Kari Kriikku has been a living inspiration behind a great number of remarkable Finnish compositions for the clarinet. On stage and through recordings, he has championed concertos and chamber works written for him by Kimmo Hakola, Jouni Kaipainen, Magnus Lindberg, Uljas Pulkkis, Kaija Saariaho, and Jukka Tiensuu. Above all, Kari Kriikku has premiered the entire output for clarinet by Magnus Lindberg. His recording of the Clarinet Concerto earned him both a Gramophone Award and a BBC Music Magazine Award in 2006. Furthermore he has championed the clarinet works of Jukka Tiensuu. Both concerto works Puro (“brook”, or “Bach” in German) and Missa he has performed more than fifty times.

Full biography

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