Olli Virtaperko
Romer's gap
Multikolor · Ambrosian Delights
Perttu Kivilaakso, amplified cello
Joonatan Rautiola, baritone saxophone
Jonte Knif, knifonium
Jyväskylä Sinfonia
Ville Matvejeff, conductor
Track listing
8 tracks · 72:01Listen to samples on selected tracks.
Olli Virtaperko
- Romer's Gap for amplified cello and sinfonietta 28:28
- 1 I. - Cadenza 10:19
- 2 II. 11:01
- 3 III. 7:08
- 4 Multikolor for baritone saxophone and small chamber orchestra 16:22
- Ambrosian Delights for knifonium and chamber orchestra 27:11
- 5 I. Fat & Filth - Cadenza (attacca) 6:56
- 6 II. Ambrosian Delights (attacca) 5:31
- 7 III. Passacaglia 4:34
- 8 IV. More is More 10:10
About this recording
This exciting new release of contemporary music includes three new concertos by Finnish composer Olli Virtaperko (b. 1973). The concertos are combining multiple styles from Baroque to prog jazz as well as different performance practices. Romer’s Gap is a concerto for electrically amplified cello featuring as soloist Perttu Kivilaakso, best known as lead cellist in the multi-million selling rock band Apocalyptica. Ambrosian Delights is a concerto for the knifonium, a vacuum-tube-based analogue synthesiser created by Jonte Knif. Multikolor, written for Joonatan Rautiola, is a single-movement work for baritone sax and small chamber orchestra. All three works are recorded by the Jyväskylä Sinfonia under conductor Ville Matvejeff.
“The three concertos on this album were written within a relatively short space of time, between 2013 and 2016. They reflect basic themes in my music in different ways, including my relationship to tradition and the problems of combining multiple styles and performance practices”, composer Olli Virtaperko describes in his liner notes, and continues: “What links these three concertos is that the solo parts were customised according to the technical and expressive potential of the soloists who premiered and recorded them. I collaborated closely with the soloist in each case. - - The past four-year period has offered me a fascinating journey into new musical colours and the borderland between acoustic and amplified music – with all the possibilities and challenges that this entails.”
Olli Virtaperko has enjoyed a multi-faceted career. He studied composition, the Baroque cello and early music performance practice at the University of Edinburgh and at the Sibelius Academy, and on the other hand he was also a vocalist in one of Finland’s most popular rock groups, Ultra Bra. Virtaperko’s musical background feeds directly into his work as a composer, which includes heavy-duty solo concertos and orchestral works but also a number of works for Baroque and Renaissance period instruments and for his own early music group, Ensemble Ambrosius.
Features
Sleeve notes in English
The artists
Perttu Kivilaakso
Perttu Kivilaakso (b. 1978) is a cellist and composer best known as lead cellist in the cello rock band Apocalyptica, which has sold some 5 million albums and given more than 1,000 concerts in almost 60 countries on all continents. Before Apocalyptica, Kivilaakso had a number of recitals and solo appearances as a classical cellist to his credit, and until 2005 he held a regular position in the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. He received 3rd prize in the Paulo Cello Competition in 1996.
Joonatan Rautiola
Sax player Joonatan Rautiola (b. 1983) studied with Pekka Savijoki at the Sibelius Academy and with Claude Delangle at the Paris Conservatory. He came to the attention of the musical community when he won the Young Soloists Competition organised by the Finnish Broadcasting Company in 2002. He also won a prize at the Aeolus Competition in Düsseldorf (2009) and at the Adolphe Sax Competition in Dinant (2010).
Jonte Knif
Jonte Knif (b. 1975) is the managing director and principal designer of Knifaudio, which manufactures analogue mastering equipment for studios. He is a musical polymath who performed with the early music groups Oliphant and Ensemble Ambrosius before focusing on music technology. He has also designed instruments, most importantly the vacuum-tube-based analogue synthesiser known as the knifonium, whose rich sound makes it blend particularly well with acoustical instruments.