Admirers of the music of the Finnish composer Kalevi Aho will warmly welcome this world-première recording on SACD of his Symphony No. 17, subtitled ‘Symphonic Frescoes’ (2017). Now aged 76, Aho remains one of the most prolific and substantial symphonic voices of our time, with a catalogue that already includes five operas, eighteen symphonies, forty-three concertos, and a vast body of chamber, choral, and other orchestral works. Aho’s symphonic music is characteristically large in scale and charged with expressive intensity. His work stands within the grand Nordic symphonic tradition associated with Sibelius, particularly in its sense of organic growth and long-span structural thinking, while at times recalling Shostakovich in its conflict-driven narratives, stark contrasts, and flair for orchestral drama.

Although Aho’s musical language is modern, it is never self-consciously forbidding, remaining freely tonal though often densely chromatic and capable of biting dissonance when the situation demands it. The music is emotionally direct yet intellectually intricate, rewarding sustained and repeated listening rather than offering instant gratification. Like much of Aho’s output – remarkable for its span from symphonies composed in his teenage years to the present – this work does not yield all its secrets at once.

‘Symphonic Frescoes’ lasts just under an hour and is cast in three movements, each of which can stand independently as a symphonic poem. The opening movement, ‘From the Deep’ (23:04), emerges from shadowy, subterranean textures, gradually accumulating momentum and weight. The music is often darkly dramatic and menacing, but Aho balances this with passages of striking lyricism, creating a powerful sense of struggle and emergence. The central movement, ‘Scherzo macabre’ (13:17), the composer suggests in the liner notes, is like a dance of death. Here Aho unleashes some of his most biting orchestral writing, driving the music with relentless rhythmic energy and grotesque humour. The scherzo is violent, sardonic, and unsettling – classic Aho territory – yet superbly controlled in its orchestration and pacing.
The final movement, ‘Distant Songs’ (23:11), is the most complex and elusive of the three. Its shifting musical landscapes evoke distant times, half-remembered dances and fragmentary songs, before gradually circling back to the present. This movement encapsulates much of what makes Aho’s music so compelling: its ability to move fluidly between eras and emotional states, and to fuse large-scale architectural thinking with intensely personal expression.

Throughout the symphony, Aho’s handling of massive orchestral forces is nothing short of phenomenal. The work is a compositional tour de force, demanding not only virtuosity from the players but concentration from the listener. A significant role is played by the organ, which is not treated as a solo instrument but woven into the orchestral fabric across all three movements, adding depth, weight, and a sense of elemental power to the sound world. The orchestration is further notable for its inclusion of parts written for two new 21st-century instruments, the lupophone and contraforte – does any orchestra possess either of these instruments, I wonder? As was the case at the symphony’s première, these parts are realised here by a heckelphone and contrabassoon respectively, blending seamlessly into the texture while extending the work’s already formidable low-wind palette.

This recording is performed by the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, with whom Aho has enjoyed a long and fruitful association, many works having been written specifically for the ensemble. On disc, his music has long been championed by the BIS label, which now boasts some thirty SACDs devoted to Aho’s output. Under the assured direction of Erkki Lasonpalo, the orchestra delivers a committed, incisive, and fully convincing performance. Recorded in the presence of the composer, this world-première account can confidently be regarded as definitive.
The recording itself was made between 13-15 March 2024, including a public concert on 14 March, at the Sibelius Hall in Lahti, Finland. The BIS recording team (Producer: Martin Nagorni and Sound Engineer: Fabian Frank) have captured both the overwhelming impact of the percussive organ-capped climaxes and the fragile delicacy of the symphony’s more reflective passages with equal clarity and balance.

This outstanding release confirms Aho’s Symphony No. 17 as a major addition to his recorded symphonic cycle, captured in a performance of exceptional clarity and conviction.

Highly recommended.

Copyright © 2026 Graham Williams and HRAudio.net

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