Kalevi Aho: Sieidi & Symphony No. 5 Colin Currie, Lahti Symphony Orchestra & Dima Slobodeniouk

• Kalevi Aho (b. 1949): Concerto for Percussion & Orchestra "Sieidi":
• 1 Concerto for Percussion & Orchestra "Sieidi": Beginning 06:12
• 2 Concerto for Percussion & Orchestra "Sieidi": Bar 165 02:53
• 3 Concerto for Percussion & Orchestra "Sieidi": Bar 235 02:43
• 4 Concerto for Percussion & Orchestra "Sieidi": Bar 352 04:41
• 5 Concerto for Percussion & Orchestra "Sieidi": Bar 454 06:04
• 6 Concerto for Percussion & Orchestra "Sieidi": Bar 559 04:43
• 7 Concerto for Percussion & Orchestra "Sieidi": Bar 678 03:26
• 8 Concerto for Percussion & Orchestra "Sieidi": Bar 775 05:19
• Symphony No. 5:
• 9 Symphony No. 5: Beginning 06:08
• 10 Symphony No. 5: Bar 113 07:34
• 11 Symphony No. 5: Bar 273 06:37
• 12 Symphony No. 5: Bar 489 03:52
• Total Runtime 01:00:12

Info for Kalevi Aho: Sieidi & Symphony No. 5

With 17 symphonies and 32 concertos to date, Kalevi Aho is one of today’s most prolific composers of large-scale orchestral scores. The present release brings together two works separated by 35 years, but also by the reception they have enjoyed: whereas Sieidi, the percussion concerto Aho composed in 2010, has become one of his most performed works, Symphony No. 5 from the mid-70s is a rarely heard score. Sieidi was written for Colin Currie, who has recorded it here and who performs the concerto with orchestras across the world. Its title, a word in Sami, is used in reference to the rituals and shamanism of indigenous peoples around the world, and the solo part, which makes use of nine different percussion instruments, begins and ends with the djembe and darbuka, drums usually heard in African and Arab music. The instruments are placed in a row towards the front of the stage, and during the course of the work the soloist makes his way across the platform, from the right to the left and back, reinforcing the ritualistic dimension of the piece. Currie is supported by the Lahti Symphony Orchestra under its principal conductor Dima Slobodeniouk, a team with a deep familiarity with Aho’s music.

This stands them in good stead when they take on the highly complicated score of Symphony No. 5, which in places even calls for a second conductor: wishing to express the incoherence of human existence, the composer lets various, often unrelated musical events overlap, at times dividing the orchestra into two parts playing at different speeds. Composing the work was ‘an exceptional effort’ according to Aho, who adds that it left him ‘with the liberating feeling that everything was now possible – that any musical problem or crisis could be overcome.’

Colin Currie, percussion
Lahti Symphony Orchestra
Dima Slobodeniouk, conductor
Jaan Ots, conductor

Colin Currie
is as solo and chamber artist at the peak of his powers. Championing new music at the highest level, he is hailed as being "at the summit of percussion performance today" (Gramophone). Currie is the soloist of choice for many of today’s foremost composers and he performs regularly with the world’s leading orchestras and conductors.

A dynamic and adventurous soloist, Currie's commitment to commissioning and creating new music was recognised in 2015 by the Royal Philharmonic Society who awarded him the Instrumentalist Award. From his earliest years Currie forged a pioneering path in creating new music for percussion, winning the Royal Philharmonic Society Young Artist Award in 2000 and receiving a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award in 2005. Currie has premiered works by composers such as Steve Reich, Elliott Carter, Louis Andriessen, HK Gruber, Mark-Anthony Turnage, James MacMillan, Brett Dean, Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Helen Grime, Jennifer Higdon, Kalevi Aho, Rolf Wallin, Kurt Schwertsik, Andrew Norman, Julia Wolfe and Nico Muhly. Looking ahead, in the coming season Currie will premiere new works by Bruno Mantovani, Luke Bedford and Andy Akiho.

In October 2017 Currie launched Colin Currie Records, in conjunction with LSO Live, as a platform for recording his diverse projects, celebrating the extraordinary developments for percussion music in recent times. The label's first release was the Colin Currie Group's debut recording, Steve Reich's Drumming, which was hailed as "thunderously exciting" (The Times). In October 2018 Currie released the second disc in this catalogue, The Scene of The Crime, with Håkan Hardenberger, the third release following in April 2019, Colin Currie & Steve Reich Live at Fondation Louis Vuitton, once again featuring the Colin Currie Group.

Highlights of Currie's 2019/20 season include the world premiere of Bruno Mantovani’s Percussion Concerto with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and Mikko Franck in April 2020. Currie also premieres a new concerto by Luke Bedford with the Philharmonia Orchestra, and Andy Akiho's new percussion concerto with the Oregon Symphony Orchestra. Currie performs the UK premiere of Sofia Gubaidulina's Glorious Percussion at the Edinburgh International Festival with BBC Scottish Symphony/Dausgaard and percussionists from the Colin Currie Group. Another major season highlight is Currie's conducting debut, conducting the Britten Sinfonia in the European premiere of Steve Reich’s Reich/Richter at the Barbican, London, in October 2019.

Currie's orchestral engagements also include appearances with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, MDR Leipzig, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Swedish Chamber and Scottish Chamber Orchestras, Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz and Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria. Currie also collaborates with various chamber partners, including Nicolas Hodges, Antoine Tamestit, the JACK Quartet and his own Colin Currie Quartet, for performances at Vienna Konzerthaus, de Doelen, Wigmore Hall, LSO St Luke’s, Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, King's Place and the Southbank Centre.

Currie's dynamic ensemble the Colin Currie Group was formed in 2006 to celebrate the music of Steve Reich and made its five-star debut at the BBC Proms. Since then, with Reich’s personal endorsement Currie and his ensemble have taken on the role of ambassadors of Drumming, which they have performed at many venues and festivals internationally. The Colin Currie Group return to the Southbank Centre in December 2019 for four sold-out performances of Drumming at the Hayward Gallery, where the work received its world premiere nearly 50 years ago.

Currie is Artist in Association at London's Southbank Centre, where he was the focus of a major percussion festival Metal Wood Skin in 2014 and continues to perform there every season.

Booklet for Kalevi Aho: Sieidi & Symphony No. 5