Kalevi Aho(born 1949)

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

@Brian did you see this post?

@Brian did you miss this Aho release in your traversal or am I missing its entry in this thread?

[Symphonic Addict]

To be released on 20 February 2026:



Great, but, why no proper recordings of his symphonies 6 and 16 yet? Are they so tough for any orchestra to be performed?

[CRCulver]

Great, but, why no proper recordings of his symphonies 6 and 16 yet? Are they so tough for any orchestra to be performed?

The Symphony No. 6 is Aho's most complex and regarded as difficult to perform, let alone get down accurately in recording. See the programme note.

The Symphony No. 16 was broadcast in Finland upon its premiere, you can hear it on YouTube. Perhaps a BIS recording didn't soon follow because Aho wanted to revise it.

Again, where are you getting this news about these labels' forthcoming releases? I was using the Presto Classical BIS page, but it no longer shows anything much in advance.

[arpeggio]

The Symphony No. 6 is Aho's most complex and regarded as difficult to perform, let alone get down accurately in recording. See the programme note.

The Symphony No. 16 was broadcast in Finland upon its premiere, you can hear it on YouTube. Perhaps a BIS recording didn't soon follow because Aho wanted to revise it.

Again, where are you getting this news about these labels' forthcoming releases? I was using the Presto Classical BIS page, but it no longer shows anything much in advance.

Glad you mentioned the YouTube of the 16th.  I have watched it many times.

[Symphonic Addict]

The Symphony No. 6 is Aho's most complex and regarded as difficult to perform, let alone get down accurately in recording. See the programme note.

The Symphony No. 16 was broadcast in Finland upon its premiere, you can hear it on YouTube. Perhaps a BIS recording didn't soon follow because Aho wanted to revise it.

Again, where are you getting this news about these labels' forthcoming releases? I was using the Presto Classical BIS page, but it no longer shows anything much in advance.

Thanks for the info, but even so with the top-quality orchestras that exist nowadays, it shouldn't be an issue to perform the 6th. Brian's Gothic Symphony has received more performances and recordings and that's a tough work to bring off, let alone to stage.

I visit pages like Proper Music to check out forthcoming releases.

[Brian]

To be released on 20 February 2026:



Great, but, why no proper recordings of his symphonies 6 and 16 yet? Are they so tough for any orchestra to be performed?

more info:



"From time to time I have felt the need to compose something larger than usual in scale – to create a kind of interim statement of my career to date, where I could put all my skills into play. Usually this has resulted in a symphony. I felt such an urge in 2016, when I asked the Lahti Symphony Orchestra about the possibility of premièring my Symphony No. 17 if I were to have it ready the following year. The orchestra was willing to do so, and I was thus able to write this work. The Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra later became the co-commissioner.

"The three-movement Symphony No. 17 is my most extensive orchestral work to date – with a duration of around 60 minutes. The lengthy first movement is itself like a symphony within a symphony. I designed it in such a way that it could also be played as a stand-alone symphonic poem, and I decided to compose the other two movements so that they too could be played independently.

"...The score also includes parts for two new wind instruments, the lupophone and the contraforte, which were developed in the 21st century. The lupophone is a variation of the baritone oboe (heckelphone), but can play a third lower. The contraforte, meanwhile, is an acoustically enhanced contra bassoon. If these instruments are not available, they can be replaced by a heckelphone and a traditional contrabassoon, as was the case at the première and on this recording."

Disappointed that the two new wind instruments weren't used!

[Symphonic Addict]

more info:



"From time to time I have felt the need to compose something larger than usual in scale – to create a kind of interim statement of my career to date, where I could put all my skills into play. Usually this has resulted in a symphony. I felt such an urge in 2016, when I asked the Lahti Symphony Orchestra about the possibility of premièring my Symphony No. 17 if I were to have it ready the following year. The orchestra was willing to do so, and I was thus able to write this work. The Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra later became the co-commissioner.

"The three-movement Symphony No. 17 is my most extensive orchestral work to date – with a duration of around 60 minutes. The lengthy first movement is itself like a symphony within a symphony. I designed it in such a way that it could also be played as a stand-alone symphonic poem, and I decided to compose the other two movements so that they too could be played independently.

"...The score also includes parts for two new wind instruments, the lupophone and the contraforte, which were developed in the 21st century. The lupophone is a variation of the baritone oboe (heckelphone), but can play a third lower. The contraforte, meanwhile, is an acoustically enhanced contra bassoon. If these instruments are not available, they can be replaced by a heckelphone and a traditional contrabassoon, as was the case at the première and on this recording."

Disappointed that the two new wind instruments weren't used!

[relm1]

more info:



"From time to time I have felt the need to compose something larger than usual in scale – to create a kind of interim statement of my career to date, where I could put all my skills into play. Usually this has resulted in a symphony. I felt such an urge in 2016, when I asked the Lahti Symphony Orchestra about the possibility of premièring my Symphony No. 17 if I were to have it ready the following year. The orchestra was willing to do so, and I was thus able to write this work. The Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra later became the co-commissioner.

"The three-movement Symphony No. 17 is my most extensive orchestral work to date – with a duration of around 60 minutes. The lengthy first movement is itself like a symphony within a symphony. I designed it in such a way that it could also be played as a stand-alone symphonic poem, and I decided to compose the other two movements so that they too could be played independently.

"...The score also includes parts for two new wind instruments, the lupophone and the contraforte, which were developed in the 21st century. The lupophone is a variation of the baritone oboe (heckelphone), but can play a third lower. The contraforte, meanwhile, is an acoustically enhanced contra bassoon. If these instruments are not available, they can be replaced by a heckelphone and a traditional contrabassoon, as was the case at the première and on this recording."

Disappointed that the two new wind instruments weren't used!

I love the idea that Aho is composing massive personal symphonies in this day and age.  Also stretching the boundaries of the orchestra.  How many hour long symphonies are still written where the composer summarizes their lifetime inspirations in a single work?  I love this and can't wait to hear it.

[Symphonic Addict]

How many hour long symphonies are still written where the composer summarizes their lifetime inspirations in a single work?

Would it be an indication that he will stop writing symphonies?

[relm1]

Would it be an indication that he will stop writing symphonies?

I don't think it's related.  It's his personal philosophy.  He said in an interview once that when he was in his 20's, he thought he was going to die soon so felt his early symphonies were the last he would live to write so they are quite dark, expansive, life summations.  As if he were writing the one thing he needed to write before dying.  He said something about after having his own kids, he lightened up and we hear this change in his symphonies from the 1980's and after but the point I'm making is he seems to still think somewhat in that way of "this work is what I'm meant to say" whatever work that might be.  I think that's a very fine quality in any composer.   It's also why I think we were robbed by never having the opportunity to hear Sibelius' 8th.  He said it was the culmination of all he's ever written.  But I think his personality was to approach each work that way.

[relm1]

I thought very highly of this new release of Aho's Symphony No. 17.  It does feel like a summation of his output in some ways.  It is an hour long and scored for large orchestra including pipe organ, alto flute, contraforte (a lower variation of the contrabassoon), euphonium, etc., and handled with virtuosity.  I hear early reflections of angst and Shostakovich/Mahler influences more noticed in his youthful symphonies.  But there are also elements of his later symphonies which are more focused on texture or structure, such as passacaglia.

It is very Mahlerian and Shostakovichian in a Symphony No. 15 way.  For example, like Mahler used a solo trombone lyrically in his third symphony, there is a passage not too distant in Aho's second movement while also wielding massive forces though giving them a chance to have their moment.  Like Shostakovich's No. 15, there is a personal recollection of past eras that have been significant to him.  This work feels personal and grand at the same time.

The last movement is atmospheric and somewhat desolate but also retrospective.  It reminded me a little bit of Jerry Goldsmith's opening to his landmark 1979 score for Alien.  It opens with a visit from that landscape but departs to a territory that feels more like Vaughan Williams' desolate epilogue in his Symphony No. 6.  We also visit classical territory.  This makes me feel a bit like hearing a great symphony by Schnittke where epochs stand along side each other.

As someone who has heard Aho's music since the first BIS recording of his Symphony No. 1 and Violin Concerto from the late 1980's till today (I think I've heard every BIS release), this might be my favorite release.  Another characteristic this work has with the finest music is this is something you really need to focus on.  It's not that it is very challenging but that this is not music to be experienced casually.  It requires your attention and rewards it. 

This could have been Aho's final symphony - and an excellent one, but there is an 18th from 2023 that I've not heard.  Like the finest composers, hearing this makes me want more.  I wanted to hear it again right after it ended.

[Roasted Swan]

I thought very highly of this new release of Aho's Symphony No. 17.  It does feel like a summation of his output in some ways.  It is an hour long and scored for large orchestra including pipe organ, alto flute, contraforte (a lower variation of the contrabassoon), euphonium, etc., and handled with virtuosity.  I hear early reflections of angst and Shostakovich/Mahler influences more noticed in his youthful symphonies.  But there are also elements of his later symphonies which are more focused on texture or structure, such as passacaglia.

It is very Mahlerian and Shostakovichian in a Symphony No. 15 way.  For example, like Mahler used a solo trombone lyrically in his third symphony, there is a passage not too distant in Aho's second movement while also wielding massive forces though giving them a chance to have their moment.  Like Shostakovich's No. 15, there is a personal recollection of past eras that have been significant to him.  This work feels personal and grand at the same time.

The last movement is atmospheric and somewhat desolate but also retrospective.  It reminded me a little bit of Jerry Goldsmith's opening to his landmark 1979 score for Alien.  It opens with a visit from that landscape but departs to a territory that feels more like Vaughan Williams' desolate epilogue in his Symphony No. 6.  We also visit classical territory.  This makes me feel a bit like hearing a great symphony by Schnittke where epochs stand along side each other.

As someone who has heard Aho's music since the first BIS recording of his Symphony No. 1 and Violin Concerto from the late 1980's till today (I think I've heard every BIS release), this might be my favorite release.  Another characteristic this work has with the finest music is this is something you really need to focus on.  It's not that it is very challenging but that this is not music to be experienced casually.  It requires your attention and rewards it. 

This could have been Aho's final symphony - and an excellent one, but there is an 18th from 2023 that I've not heard.  Like the finest composers, hearing this makes me want more.  I wanted to hear it again right after it ended.

Thankyou for this thoughtful review.  I followed Aho avidly up to about Symphony No.12 but for some reason my engagement waned after that.  Perhaps its time to get back on board the Aho Express........

[Symphonic Addict]

Great review, @relm1! Looking forward to hearing it myself.