Dawn Breaks
Jaana Karkkainen, piano.  Mirka Malmi, violin. Kyle Bruckmann, oboe.
Maija Hynninen, electronics.
Tuuli Lindberg, soprano. Hanna Kinnunen, flute.
Lily-Marlene Puusepp, electric harp.
Mikko Raasakka, clarinet/bass clarinet.
Anna Kuvaja, piano.
Ravello Records 8021
Total Time:  62:37
Recording:   ****/****
Performance: ****/****

Finnish electro-acoustic composer Maija Hynninen (b. 1977) presents four of her unique explorations of sound and electronics on this new release.  The album features recordings made over the past nine years.  Hynninen explores how the sound, or timbre, of a particular instrument can provide a touchpoint for further elaboration an electronic manipulation.  Three pieces feature different solo instruments paired with intriguing soundscapes that tend to further dissolve and evolve the musical material in her work.

Jaana Karkkainen begins the album with winnowing (2010), a work for piano and electronics.  The piano material itself is cast in a more modern vein and for the first third of the piece we are hearing mostly this, but soon more contemporary effects begin to appear both made acoustically (such as strumming piano strings) and then more electronically.  Here Hynninen uses the sounds of flying birds and bird chirps that are floated between the channels of sound here.  The effect is quite striking.  In sicut aurora procedit: as the dawn breaks (2015), the solo instrument is violin.  The violin line incorporates an antiphon by Hildegard of Bingen as its source material which is then further expanded by a prerecorded vocal line (reminiscent of Crumb in the way these elements are combined).  Other recorded sounds also become part of the musical picture created here.  The music explores a slow appearance of motives and sounds in further demonstration of Hynnenin’s dramatic writing in a quite haunting piece.  For the final solo work, Freedom from Fear (2019), the oboe gives Hynnenin more opportunities to explore sound from incorporating additional key clicks and other sound material that can add to the rhythmic and expressive aspects of the music.  The line itself is shaped by a the Burmese politician Aung San Suu Kyi in a work that dramatically connects to the events of Burmese chaos in that country.

The five-movement Orlando-Fragments (2010) has a slightly expanded instrumental palette adding flute, electric harp, clarinet/bass clarinet, and piano in addition to the piano and electronic components.  The texts are by Henrikka Tavi and are based on scenes from Virgina Wolff’s novel Orlando.  Here Hynninen explores text setting in ways that allow the vocal line to be manipulated in ways that help also parallel the dramatic changes over time that are the focus of these texts.  The pure vocal tone created by Lindeberg is quite stunning and the sounds that surround it further enhance this quality.  The addition of solo instrumental lines are also another interesting touch as they mimic and interact with the voice.  The music here lies in similar avant-garde song cycles of Schoenberg and later Crumb, of which this is a natural successor to those types of approaches.

Throughout this release, one is struck by the almost cinematic dramatic shaping of this music.  Hynninen’s contemporary style allows for the music itself to often feel far more tonal which first draws the listener in before it then begins to spiral toward a more modern and atonal sense, often further enhanced by the addition of unusual performance techniques and the electronic integration of her material.  It is a rather fascinating journey for those intrigued by the way composers are exploring electronics and concert music.  Here, the music is aided by a sense of programmatic inspiration that helps guide the listener.

Carollo: Symphony No. 3
Emma Tring, soprano.
London Symphony Orchestra/Miran Vaupotic
Navona Records 6250
Total Time: 27:57
Recording:   ****/****
Performance: ****/****

The London Symphony enters the list of performers on Navona’s stable with this new release featuring the third symphony of John A. Carollo (b. 1954).  Carollo’s music has appeared on some earlier Navona releases introducing this Hawaiian-based composer who spent a majority of his life working as a mental health professional.  A blend of traditional harmony within a modernist style is perhaps the best way to describe Carollo’s music.  It is quite accessible work with a picturesque quality that is a bit more in the forefront of this more recent work.

The Symphony No. 3 (2017) is cast in four movements with evocative titles inspired by William Blake’s poetry.  The work itself is a rethinking of earlier song cycles.  “To Morning” provides a rather atmospheric start to the work that soon opens up into a rather pastoral quality.  The harmony has an impressionistic feel of slowly rising in beauty with the sun.  Musically, it the sound is somewhat evocative of a mid-century film score with touches of Delius.  That Hollywood feel somewhat appears in the second movement’s “Gestural Rituals” which focuses on a motivic idea that is repeated across some rather dense harmonic support.  There is a bit more interaction here and a rather fascinating driving section.  A piano plays more of a role in the fabric of the orchestra as well.  These ideas tend to repeat in a rather incessant way across the movement.  For the third movement, “In the Garden of Earthyly Delights”, Carollo adds a soprano line as another potential color in the orchestra.  It is an equally evocative work with solo wind and piano lines that give the opening an intimate quality.  The piece is certainly aided by the superb musicians who are highlighted in telling solo moments here.  But this particular movement feels a bit more like a chamber piece with the vocal line working more in tandem with the piano.  The final movement, “Let the Evening Stillness Arouse”, continues this intriguing blend of dark dissonance with evocative swaths of thematic solo lines.  The piece has a somewhat languid, and overall restrained quality.  There are certainly moments of great beauty in this work, but the movements feel somewhat disparate essays that feel often like brief sketches of a fleeting moment.

In addition to the CD of the piece itself, the release featuers a DVD featurette and a recording of the symphony in 5.1 surround stereo.  All this to help perhaps make up for the short playing time.  With this, Navona enters an opportunity to expand its audiophile interest while presenting new music with a major symphony orchestra.