Heavenly Lights

Description

For this fifth volume of the Lockenhaus festival series, under the artistic direction of Nicolas Altstaedt, the cellist presents two works by Finnish composer Olli Mustonen (born in 1967, a student of Rautavaara), including Heavenly Lights (Taivaanvalot) for tenor, cello, and piano, performed here by Ian Bostridge, Nicolas Altstaedt, and the composer at the piano. The English tenor premiered the work in 2016 in its initial chamber version, recorded here for the first time. Mustonen will create an orchestral version in 2020, but the original piece bears the title Symphony: "this work was a revelation for me as soon as I discovered it. One dives into the era of Finnish bards and the folk poems of the Kalevala, a legendary and mystical world whose stories touch us all, regardless of our country of origin," says Altstaedt. A closeness to popular art like that sought and found by Kodály: his Sonata Opus 4 (1909-1910), his Sonatina (1920), and the Sonata that Mustonen wrote in 2006 – all for cello and piano – also make up this exhilarating and enchanting program.