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Cover: A Due – Duo works for clarinet and cello

A Due

Duo works for clarinet and cello

Kari Kriikku, clarinet and bass clarinet
Anssi Karttunen, cello

ODE 1102-2 · CD · May 2007

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Track listing

12 tracks · 71:11

Listen to samples on selected tracks.

Jukka Tiensuu

  1. 1 Plus II, for clarinet and cello (1992) 9:16

Olli Kortekangas

  1. 2 Iscrizione, for clarinet and cello (1990) 3:09

Kaija Saariaho

  1. 3 Oi kuu (O Moon)for bass clarinet and cello (1990) 6:34

Magnus Lindberg

  1. 4 Steamboat Bill Jr., for clarinet and cello (1990) 9:00

Usko Meriläinen

  1. 5 Unes, for clarinet and cello (1990) 6:05

Erkki Jokinen

  1. 6 Pros, for clarinet and cello (1990) 5:46

Erik Bergman

  1. Karanssi, Op. 114, for clarinet / bass clarinet and cello (1990) 10:13
  2. 7 I. 2:29
  3. 8 II. 3:52
  4. 9 III. 3:53

Tapani Länsiö

  1. 10 A Due, for bass clarinet and cello (1991) 3:58

Paavo Heininen

  1. 11 Short I, Op. 58, for clarinet and cello (1990) 8:26

Kimmo Hakola

  1. 12 Capriole, for bass clarinet and cello (1991) 8:43

About this recording

This CD contains Finnish contemporary duo music specially written for clarinetist Kari Kriikku and cellist Anssi Karttunen. The unheard-of and fascinating combination of these two melody instruments has no classical precedents and was introduced into Finnish contemporary music in the late 1980s, thanks to the featured performers and their close contacts to Finnish composers. The works were given their first performances at the Warsaw Autumn Festival in 1990 and recorded for Finnish Radio between 1992 and 2005.

The performers are two of Finland’s foremost instrumentalists; clarinetist Kari Kriikku - an acclaimed champion of contemporary music and winner of both the Classic FM Gramophone Award 2006 and the BBC Music Magazine Award 2006 (Lindberg: Clarinet Concerto; ODE 1038-2) - and cellist Anssi Karttunen, who has equal credentials as a dedicatee of works by Magnus Lindberg, Kaija Saariaho, Rolf Wallin and Tan Dun.

Kari Kriikku performs on clarinet (1, 2, 4-7, 9, 11) and bass clarinet (3, 8, 10, 12).

Features

Booklet with liner notes and additional texts written by the performers, in English, German, French and Finnish

Press

A fantastically stimulating disc, performed by two consumate virtuosos clearly dedicated to their task.
Colin Clarke, Fanfare Magazine, January/February 2008

Clarinettist Kari Kriikku and cellist Anssi Karttunen are outstanding instrumentalists in the outstanding generation of Finnish musicians that also includes Esa-Pekka Salonen, Magnus Lindberg and Kaija Saariaho. (...) the pieces are all played with the freewheeling panache and virtuosity that distinguishes the work of both musicians. (...) Lindberg's Steamboat Bill Jr uses Buster Keaton's silent classic as the starting point for a dazzling display of musical slapstick and acrobatics.
Andrew Clements, The Guardian, August 24, 2007

All 10 works here were written for the Finnish Duo: all are accomplished, all brilliantly played (...) Tapani Lansio’s confrontational A Due, Paavo Heininen's Short I and Kimmo Hakola’s scintillating, incident-packed Capriole complete a collection both entertaining and substantial.
Stephen Pettitt, The Sunday Times, July 8, 2007, 4/5

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

Anssi Karttunen

The Finnish cellist Anssi Karttunen is one of the most renowned and versatile musicians in the classical music world today and enjoys a busy career as a soloist and chamber music player. He performs on modern cello, classical and baroque cellos and on violoncello piccolo. Anssi Karttunen performs all the standard cello works, but has also discovered many forgotten masterpieces and arranged a number of pieces for cello. He is a passionate advocate of contemporary music and his collaboration with composers has led him to give over 50 world premieres of works by composers such as Magnus Lindberg, Kaija Saariaho (including Notes on Light in 2007, which he recorded; ODE 1130-2), Rolf Wallin, Luca Francesconi and Tan Dun.

Full biography

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