During his lifetime, Oskar Merikanto (1868–1924) was the most popular composer in Finnish homes. Even today, especially at weddings and funerals, his pieces are widely heard and performed. Merikanto was an excellent pianist and organist and possessed a particular gift for writing memorable melodies. Enjoying great popularity, he wrote over 200 songs, a number of duets, several choral works and nearly 200 piano works. To mark the 100th anniversary of Merikanto's death in 2024, Waltteri Torikka has recorded 29 of his songs. Torikka topped the Finnish pop charts for 3 weeks in 2018, performs frequently in European opera festivals and is a frequent visitor on Finland’s top television programmes.

This album by violinist Christian Tetzlaff and cellist Tanja Tetzlaff together with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin conducted by Paavo Järvi, is dedicated in the memory of their longtime artistic partner, pianist Lars Vogt (1970–2022). At the heart of this album is Brahms, one of Lars Vogt’s favourite composers, and his late orchestral masterpiece, the Double Concerto. Brahms himself had admired one of Viotti’s violin concertos so much that he included material from the Violin Concerto no.22 into his work. With Christian Tetzlaff’s recording of the Violin Concerto, this album finally brings these two works together. Also included is Dvořák’s beautiful Silent Woods for cello and orchestra, a work by another composer that was very close to Lars Vogt’s heart.

Nicholas Collon began as the new chief conductor of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra in September 2021. This all-Sibelius programme, carefully selected by the conductor, is his debut album together with his new orchestra. Collon offers fresh and modern interpretation of Sibelius’ symphonic testament, the 7th Symphony, and brings to life the colour and drama of Sibelius’ incidental music for two plays - Maeterlinck’s famous Pelléas et Mélisande and the historic King Christian II.

Throughout his life Russian composer and pianist Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915) displayed a great admiration for the music of Frederic Chopin. So much so that some of his early Sonatas and Preludes are written in the same harmonic style as Chopin. And similar to Chopin, only a handful of Scriabin's works were orchestral in nature, as most of his prolific output was devoted to the piano. And nowhere are the similarities more apparent than in the Op. 3 Mazurkas. After all, the Mazurka is native to Poland and not Russia.

Tõnu Kõrvits (b. 1969) is together with Arvo Pärt and Erkki-Sven Tüür among the most interesting Estonian composers of our time. This album by the Estonian NSO and Risto Joost consists of orchestral works written between a period of ten years, from 2007 to 2018. These works have been inspired by a variety of themes and are rich with delicate atmosphere possessing a particularly Northern feel combined with a romantic and Impressionistic touch.

In this album Clara Andrada, solo flutist of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, performs three 20th century flute concertos together with the orchestra conducted by Jaime Martín. Malcolm Arnold’s delightful Flute Concerto No. 1 makes a pleasant addition alongside Nielsen’s and Ibert’s flute concertos. Jaime Martín, himself an excellent flutist, is a perfect companion to these works. This is the orchestra’s second album for Ondine, and continues the fruitful collaboration between Jaime Martín and Ondine that has already produced three albums previously.