The colours of The Magical Forest glow in this remarkable recording which brings together Sinikka Langeland’s Norwegian-Finnish-Swedish Starflowers quintet with the singers of the Trio Mediӕval. It’s an inspired concept: the Trio Mediӕval, with their affinity for folk music and their unique vocal blend, adapt themselves ideally to Sinikka’s sound-world, which is once archaic, timeless and contemporary. The quintet members, all bandleaders in their own right, are amongst the most characterful players in Scandinavia today, and Sinikka sets them free to improvise around her cycle of songs, built upon myths and legends of the world tree.

Famous among Progressive rock fans worldwide for being probably the classiest (and most complete) publication in this style, the Finnish magazine Colossus had the great idea to ask thirty bands of the whole world to illustrate the national Finnish epic: "Kalevala". It is made of old ballads and traditional songs, but is also part of a huge group of legends, which has inspired both J.R.R. Tolkien for his mythic "Lord Of The Rings" and composer Sibelius, among others. The idea that contributed to the creation of "Kalevala - A Finnish Progressive Rock Epic" was to use exclusively instruments of the Seventies, in order to obtain the "Aging" that the story needed. The result is absolutely stunning: three albums included in a box-set designed as beautifully as the famous Colossus covers. As for the music, the listener won't be disappointed! He'll be delighted to hear about four hours of sumptuous and rich (Vocal or instrumental) Progressive rock…

Symphonic in scale and ambition, the incidental music to Shakespeare's play The Tempest was among the last orchestral works Sibelius composed before entering the mysterious 'silence of Järvenpää' that lasted until his death. Commissioned by leading Danish theatre producer Johannes Poulsen in 1925, the wide expressive demands of the play saw Sibelius calling on large musical forces. From the terrifying tone picture of the opening shipwreck via ethereal songs, boisterous character portraits and remarkable evocations of nature, Sibelius took full advantage of being set free to convert the themes of Shakespeare's magical world into his own unique sound.

Those who are familiar with the multi-national recording project The Samurai Of Prog, are hopefully also aware of this related project, which is more oriented to Folk and Old Music elements, albeit always staying within modernly produced progressive rock. Liber de Dictis is the follower to the warmly received debut album The Knight and the Ghost (2020). The core line-up has changed for the main keyboards: Ton Scherpenzeel (Kayak) has been replaced by Alessandro di Benedetti, who contributed on one track on the debut. As always, the guest musicians are very numerous, but unlike with TSOP where the various collaborators usually also write the music, The Guildmaster is more self-contained in this matter, Rafael Pacha being the most prolific composer. This 68-minute album is loosely conceptual: each track draws inspiration from folkloristic sayings.

Nils-Aslak Valkeapää, (Sami language Áillohaš, also kown as "Ailu") (March 23 1943 - November 26 2001) was a Saami writer, musician and artist of Finnish citizenship born in Enontekiö in the Finnish part of Lapland. Significant portions of his life he lived in Käsivarsi, close to the border to Sweden, and also in Skibotn in Norway. It is sometimes said that Valkeapää is the Sami person who is most well known internationally. Valkeapää was born in a family of the traditional trade of herding reindeer, but was trained as a school teacher. The traditional sami singing yoik was important in his art, in music as well as in painting and in writing. The yoik also was the first genre he got recognised in. During the 1960s, young Sami searched for their cultural roots and Valkeapää was one of the most prominent persons as a yoiker…

Alba Records julkaisee Ilari Laakson sävellyksiä pianolle ja sopraanolle pianisti Anna Laakson ja sopraano Pia Freundin tulkitsemina. Julkaisun sävellykset tutkivat perheen, katoavuuden sekä kielen merkityksiä. “Runous on minulle läheisin kirjallisuuden laji. Ajatusten ja tunnetilojen kiteyttäminen muutamiin sanoihin ja sanaryhmiin on taito sui generis.”, Ilari Laakso toteaa.

Mezzo-soprano Marianne Beate Kielland is famous for her strong stage presence and musical integrity. Gramophone Magazine writes about her: The mezzo-soprano is quite outstanding: strong, firm, sensitive in modulations, imaginative in her treatment of words, with a voice pure in quality, wide in range and unfalteringly true in intonation.

These days, Aarre Merikanto (1893–1958) is one of the best-known early 20th century modernists in Finnish classical music. In his early years, he composed in the National Romantic style, but by the time he was 23, he had developed a much more progressive style. By the beginning of the 1920s, he was writing in a modern, free-tonal musical language with a strong focus on timbral colour. Merikanto himself considered his “radical” style to be innate, but we know he was in fact inspired by Debussy and Scriabin, and especially Sibelius’ Fourth Symphony. After moving from the countryside back to Helsinki in 1928, Merikanto started actively networking with other Finnish composers, which also had an effect on his music.

Featuring 45 minutes of material that’s previously completely unreleased, this box set contains everything Finnforest recorded in the studio. It has the three rare studio albums originally released on Love Records in 1975, 1976 and 1979, plus all non-album tracks from singles and compilations. But we didn’t stop there: we dug through the band’s archives of tape reels and found some completely unreleased music. These sessions are compiled on the fifth album: first is the band’s debut studio session from 1973 and the flipside has four songs the band managed to finish during studio sessions for a planned fourth album in 1980 before splitting up…

This album includes a repertoire of Nordic composers influenced by French impressionism and Debussy’s music in particular. In Finland, both Toivo Kuula and Leevi Madetoja are known for taking influence from impressionism. After spending extensive time at the National Library in Oslo I decided to add songs by Alf Hurumin and with the helpful advice from the principal of the Norwegian State Academy of Music, Astrid Kvalbein, Pauline Hall. Juho Alakärppä brought in Gösta Nystrom`s Sånger vid havet. This work was originally written for Finnish soprano Aulikki Rautava.

In a follow-up to her acclaimed album of Mahler songs, Christiane Karg takes us on a Christmas tour, in the select company of fellow music-makers. Revisiting holiday memories through the eyes of a child, but with the benefit of her superb artistry as a lieder specialist, the German soprano shines a light on some enchanting rarities of German and French repertoire, along with examples of Spanish, Basque, and Scandinavian traditions… A treasure trove of hidden gems!

The final volume of Seitakuoro’s Lappish trilogy is, like the two previous CDs – Arktisiä näkyjä (Arctic Scenes, 2011) and Kuvia pohjoisesta (Visions of the North, 2015) – a continuation of the choir’s mission to make world premiere recordings of works composed specially for the choir. But whereas the earlier discs drew on the wealth of material accumulated over the decades in the Seitakuoro archives, the songs on this disc were all composed for a composition competition organised by the choir in 2019 and are thus extremely new.

The ancient, shamanistic, musical traditions of the Samis of northern Scandanavia, in what was once known as Lapland, are given a modern twist by vocalist and drummer Mari Boine (Persen). Although her highly rhythmic songs are rooted in the wordless, yodeling-like, vocal style of yoik (or joik), Boine's arrangements incorporate influences of jazz, rock and other ethnic elements.

Riemuitkaamme! is an imaginative and unconventional selection of choral music associated with Christmas as it is celebrated in Finland. Several of the pieces are by Finnish composers - Sibelius, Rautavaara and Madetoja, to name a few - while others have become part of the Christmas traditions of the country despite their international background. Among these Berlioz The Shepherds Farewell and Tchaikovskys Christ, when a Child are quite late additions compared to the medieval hymns Puernatusin Bethlehem, Ecce novum gaudium and Angelus emittitur. All three of these were included in the collection Piae cantiones from 1582, the oldest Finnish music publication. Here, they are performed in settings by various composers from different countries and eras forming a kind of soundtrack of Christmases past and present, distant and close. Contemporary music forms an important part of the activities of the Helsinki Chamber Choir and Nils Schweckendiek, and true to form, the team includes a world premiere recording in their celebrations: Aattoilta, by the Canadian-born composer Matthew Whittall.