Search - Martti Roussi, Olli Mustonen, Tapiola Sinfonietta :: Triple Concerto; Nonets 1 & 2; Petite Suite

Early Forays into Chamber Compositions

Grady Harp | Los Angeles, CA United States | 01/12/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Olli Mustonen is a name the public knows best from his performance at the piano, as soloist, in chamber ensembles and in concerti. Yet here is another very fine aspect of this artist's creativity. These works include a Triple Concerto for violins and chamber orchestra, 2 Nonets for strings, and two works for cello and piano and cello and small orchestra. They are young works, filled with enthusiasm, quotations from Baroque through Contemporary, and while obviously demanding on the artists, are very accessible to the novice listener.



Mustonen conducts the works with the Tapiola Sinfonietta and has engaged some very fine soloists: violinists Elisabeth Batiashvili (admittedly my intial reason for obtaining this CD!), Pekka Kuusisto and Jaakko Kuusisto, cellist Martti Rousi, and Ilari Angervo and Marko Ylonen. The small works without orchestra introduce some excellent playing, both in technique and in unity of sound. This is a fine introduction to the compositions of Olli Mustonen and suggests we will be hearing more from his pen as well as his piano! Grady Harp, January 06"

This is Just Fabulous

J. Park | 04/13/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I knew Olli Mustonen's gift as a pianist, but he matches with his skills as a composer. The Triple Concerto has a structure of a Baroque concerto providing a lot of runs and excitement. The Petite Suite and Nonets were also beautiful pieces."

Naturalness and charm

Sam | Seahurst, Washington | 12/10/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Olli Mustonen is a gifted pianist, now in his late thirties, who commands a splendid technique and considerable artistry. He also composes, and all the music here comes from 1995-2000. His Triple Concerto for three violins and orchestra (1998) is a neo-Baroque pastiche, and there is a strong element of pastiche in the First Nonet, dedicated to Steven Isserlis. It is Scherzo that has a Mendelssohnian delicacy, though the repeated ostinato rhythm of the finale is too much of a not very good thing. The Petite Suite for Cello and Strings has a naturalness and charm that almost recall Gunnar de Frumerie's Pastoral Suite. Mustonen does not have a distinctive voice, but his directness and simplicity are strangely likeable. He has a natural, if at time naïve, melodic talent, and the fine musicians on this disc serve him well, as do the Ondine engineers."