WENNÄKOSKI Soie. Hava. Amor Omnia Suite
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Lotta Wennäkoski
Genre:
Orchestral
Label: Ondine
Magazine Review Date: AW2015
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 55
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: ODE1259-2

Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Soie |
Lotta Wennäkoski, Composer
Dima Slobodeniouk, Conductor Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra Kersten McCall, Flute Lotta Wennäkoski, Composer |
Hava |
Lotta Wennäkoski, Composer
Dima Slobodeniouk, Conductor Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra Lotta Wennäkoski, Composer |
Amor Omnia Suite |
Lotta Wennäkoski, Composer
Dima Slobodeniouk, Conductor Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra Lotta Wennäkoski, Composer |
Author: Andrew Mellor
Wennäkoski gets to the ‘light, translucent billowing fabric’ of ‘Voile’ with intensely detailed scoring and a large orchestra as if viewed from the wrong end of a telescope in its focus yet often incredibly spare and controlled. Now and then the ensemble collapses into a junction as if a ripping gust has caught it like a loose jib. There’s a physicality to the music, as in ‘Lin gros’, when the orchestra suddenly leaps out of its background role into a snarling confrontation. ‘Soie’ is full of tiny detail, rippling through the orchestra from the soloist’s keys – the flute’s notes always about wind, never about accommodating a musical idea that could have been realised elsewhere.
To my ears there’s more needless gesture and not the same level of distilled craft in Hava, a ‘fast texture piece’ that’s not invested with quite enough momentum to maintain the motion, despite some alluring passages. It can be hard to get a handle on the suite Amor omnia, compiled by Wennäkoski from her full length score to Konrad Tallroth’s tragic-romantic silent film, without the accompanying pictures – which might explain the sense of undertow that seems to uncannily stalk the music, even in silence. There’s a consistent exploration of orchestral light, translucence and patience (shades of Kaija Saariaho), while Wennäkoski certainly has a penchant for the sudden grand gesture (shades of Magnus Lindberg). Plenty of evidence why this composer has long been considered ‘one to watch’ in Finland.

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