Customer Reviews

Salonen - LA Variations · Five Images After Sappho · Mania · Gambit · Giro / Upshaw · Karttunen · L.A. Phil. · London Sinfonietta · Salonen

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The first thing I did after returning home from the 5/16/02 performance of the LA Phil with Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting his own FOREIGN BODIES was to put on his "LA Variations" disc, to reconfirm his growth as a composer. Hopefully FOREIGN BODIES will be recorded soon as it is a masterwork. But until it is we have this gem of a disc of Salonen's music to bask in. Salonen continues to surprise us in every way. A supremely gifted conductor, he has moved from the school of dissecting the works of the last centuries, finding nuances and clarity that makes them seem new. Now his acute sense of detail and attention to orchestral color has matured into finding the power of the soul, the non-cerebral passion that makes the masterworks continue to live. Few conduct Mahler, Debussy, Bruckner, Strauss and then Stravinsky/Bartok/Prokofiev/Sibelius/Nielson better.

The same journey applies to his own compositions. Yes, he explores the infinite spectrum of instrumental and vocal colors, but now he is showing us how he can work with massive clouds of sound and allow us to walk into that soundscape, seeing every atom without losing the emotional impact of the whole. LA VARIATIONS is well worth being in the repertoire of all the major orchestras. It is a big, luxurious, lush tonal poem. His FIVE IMAGES AFTER SAPPHO ( especially as sung by Dawn Upshaw) are text appropriate, voice friendly, and above all communicative - equal to any song cycle written in the last century.

The Wunderkind Salonen has matured into an insightful composer and conductor and his place in the music world and the future is secure. Just listen to this disc and see for yourself.

Salonen, Lindberg and Saariaho is a triptych "gang" of clever, brilliant composers from my neighbor country Finland and if you like postmodern classical music you should check ALL three of them out (these three mentioned above often "sit in" or help each other in one way or another).

This is a stunning record and Salonens five songs (beutiful singing from D. Upshaw on those 5 songs) are something special.

This disc has almost everything. A criteria for... well maybe not a genuis but def. a very good, innovative composer.

Salonen is a good conductor and also an extremly talanted composer.

A must disc. This is something extraordanary in the postmodern classical music area.

This is a stunning disc. The highlight must surely be Mania-a cello concerto-like 17 minute piece with progressive rhythmic and orchestral values, while teetering on the brink of atonality, yet never sounding raucous, ugly, or exceedingly vulgar. This piece is one of the most exciting modern pieces I have heard in a while. Gambit and Giro are also a modern take on a stravinskyesqe, straussian tone poem. They are fun, exciting and brillinat all at once. The main piece is the LA variaitons which, though for me not as fun as the other three pieces is still well worth the listen. I did not, however, like the Five images of Sappho. Three of the five songs are good, but one of them is so obnoxiously redundent that it is ludicrous. Other than that, however, I enthusiastically recommend this and Wing on Wing(DG), along with the new piece Helix, released only on Itunes live concert series.
The quality of Salonen;s pieces so far make me very excited to follow the future of this young and talented composer. This is recommended for both lovers of both the old and new school of modern music. There are no, I repeat NO, bleep-bloop, strategic noise moments.

What an album! I've seen Salonen conduct a few times, but this is the first time I've heard one of his own compositions. Amazingly different, combining modernism, minimalism, and melody all at the same time. He's also wonderful at using unique sounds. During LA Variations, there were a few times where I wasn't sure what instrument was playing. And during the Sappho piece, Salonen feels free to use drums that sound almost like bongos. I just can't wait for his next composition...

I have always viewed Esa-Pekka Salonen as a Yuppie, and I hate Yupppies! Having said that, Jesus, there are some Yuppies that can really DO things....

This CD is wonderful, it is a most welcome and pleasant suprise in the land of modern (contemporary) classical music.

First, the relation to Sibelius is quite obvious, but Salonen doesn't stop there. I hear a little Debussy, a little Mahler, and sometimes even a bit Messiaen. But most of all, it's all SALONEN.

The colors, the timbres; high mastery of orchestration. Ingenius. Salonen extracts sounds and vibrations from the orchestras, especially "his" LA Phil, like I have never heard before. Buy this CD for the colors of the sounds alone, and you won't be disappointed.
LA Variations is my favorite piece: Modernism that is relaxed, but never boring, with scenes of power and pure excitement that are never nerving and unlistenable. This CD wants to entertain, and it does so at the highest level of accomplishment and cultivation.
Mania is fantastic for its lyrical approach,while maintaing the surrealism of an early Rachmaninov or a Scriabin, with Karttunen as a master of his trade.
Salonen has changed, the "young bravado" like another reviewer once called him, has matured, without losing his compassion, excitement and the thrill, but by adding warmth, melody and color and feeling.

There are many things here that are new to my ears, and maybe one day we will say that the future of classical music has finally arrived...

In his decade-plus at its helm, Salonen has honed the Los Angeles Philharmonic into one of the world's best handful of orchestras. Sony's (too few) previous releases by the LA Phil show it in fine form. This CD demonstrates it at its modernest best. Anyone who has heard EPS conduct 20th Century music knows that he brings a clarity and warmth to it like no one else. He somehow gets musicians to deliver perfection and precision that simply cannot be heard elsewhere.

Conducting his own music played by his orchestra, this CD captures both the conductor/composer and the orchestra at their best. The performances are shimmering, from the gloriously rich string and percussion sections of the LA Phil to Dawn Upshaw's luminous voice. And Salonen's music, especially LA Variations and Five Images Afer Sappho, are beautiful, transfixing and highly listenable modernist works.

Supposedly the Sappho songs are a compositional prelude to Salonen's first opera (to be based on Peter Hoeg's novel, "The Woman and the Ape"). This CD makes one long for the day the opera premieres and the recording that will undoubtedly follow. In the meantime, there is more music Sony has recorded by Salonen and the LA Phil (e.g., Ligeti's lustrous "Clocks and Clouds"). Nonesuch has also recorded their world premiere performances of John Adams' first symphony. Hopefully these gatekeepers of the best music made anywhere will release these disks in the very near future.

L.A. Variations sounds more like a cohesive one-movement symphony than a series of "variations". It has primary and secondary themes. Melodies that are briefly introduced early in the peice come to their full expression at the end. Salonen's music is shimmering and powerful and deep and intelligent. It has the bigness of Bruckner, the sweep of Wagner and the lush, layering complexity of Debussy. After about the 10th time listening through, you hear how every note is connected, and you hear just how amazingly beautiful and exhilerating music can be.
The other pieces on this cd are icing on the cake. There are many enjoyable harmonies between music and voice in "Five Images After Sappho" which, surprisingly to me, often reminds me of some Sondheim compositions. "Giro", "Mania" and "Gambit" are earlier Salonen works that seem to have been more fully developed later in Wing on Wing and Insomnia. All of the music on this cd is very entertaining and always interesting. Giro has an eerieness that is addictive, a bit like Bartok, but better structured and certainly more concise. Mania is more like a mainstream, concerto second-movement that has a sad and lovely quality. Gambit is a big, modern Salonen engine that constantly strives forward. Something that is always at the heart of his compositions.
I wish Salonen could stay in L.A. much longer. At least I was able to be in Disney Hall for his Violin Concerto premier and his brilliant interpretation of Beethoven's 5th symphony. And we have his recordings to enjoy. I can honestly say that I find myself listening much more to Salonen CDs than I do Beethoven.

Wait a minute...isn't he just a conductor? No, this Finnish-born conductor is also a composer. This CD is his first release and it contains 5 world premiere recordings. Salonen has always been a promoter of new music and now he shows us what he can do. The three orchestral works are diverse and show off the ability of the ensemble he conducts full time. Dawn Upshaw, soprano, and Anssi Karttunen, cello, grace this CD as featured soloists on two of the pieces. Dawn Upshaw sings beautifully on Salonen's "Five Images After Sappho." The Ojai Festival and the London Sinfonietta commissioned this work. Anssi Karttunen, for whom this work was composed, performs "Mania" for violoncello solo and ensemble.

This CD is a great companion to the (also) Finnish-born composer Kaija Saariaho's recording of Graal Theatre, Chateau De L'ame, and Amers.

Esa-Pekka Salonen began his musical life as a composer. In the early 1980s, he produced a number of interesting pieces, some of which one can hear on a fine Finlandia disc. Once his career as a conductor took off, however, Salonen entered a prolonged hiatus from composition. He has ascribed this somewhat to his discomfort with the European modernist vein in which he was working, which fascinated him but seemed to lack something. In the 1990s, however, after exploring other contemporary styles and building a strong relationship with the L.A. Philharmonic, several new pieces appeared in short order. This Sony Classical disc from 2001 offered the first recordings of the new Salonen. Certain moments here are wonderfully written, and I like the high energy level, but compared to subsequent achievements Salonen is still finding his way.

"L.A. Variations" (1996) is the strongest work here, a juxtaposition of individual scenes, each of which features some particular instrumental arrangement. It is a concerto for orchestra of sorts, though not always with the overt virtuosity one associates with that genre. If I were to compare the piece to other composers, the soundworld ranges from Rihm-like postmodernism to Stravinskian cadences, though there's one moment like a John Williams film score that makes me cringe.

"Mania" for cello and orchestra (2000) is a generally hyperactive concerto which begins out of what sounds like the orchestra tuning up -- Salonen's orchestral writing celebrates these commonplace features of such an ensemble. The scoring keeps the solo line consistently audible, and the cellist rarely lets up, though when it does the music becomes rather meandering and unmemorable. "Five Images after Sappho" for soprano and chamber orchestra (1999) has highly varied movements, some of which are lovely while others disappointing -- couldn't Salonen have found a less sappy way of setting a poem about starlight then with a tinkling celesta line?

"Gambit" (1998-99) is an inconsequential piece, little more than a fanfare that overstays its welcome. "Giro" (1982, rev. 1997) too is a rather anonymous, a tribute to Magnus Lindberg that seems a pale imitation of Lindberg's work.

If you are curious about Salonen's music, the Piano Concerto on a recent DG disc is a good place to start. These initial works after the long silence are quite immature in comparison.

Much of contemporary music (by composers who are still active) have little going for it other than individuality. Salonen knows how to work the orchestra and he produces some astonishing sounds. The music is indeed original, even if does on occasion sound a little like Rautavaara. But the Variations seem disjointed with one dazzling episode following another with any sense of continuity or cogency. It seems that the Variations would be just as effective if it were ordered randomly. The music isn't academic, but one comes away with the impression that the work could be a series of unrelated examples from an advanced orchestration textbook. Ultimately the music is highly individual, but unmemorable. Great performances though.