Dedicated To

"The Keski-Ostrobothnia Chamber Orchestra, the edgy Ojlaan of the Finnish orchestra scene, has been able to enjoy cooperation with several composers over the years. So it is natural that the fruits of the cooperation are presented in their own album. "Dedicated to", published by Alba on SACD, contains music dedicated to the orchestra of the Finnish-Latvian repertoire. The well-honed orchestra plays with the usual passion under the leadership of its honorary conductor Juha Kankaa, and on its own, the track of the orchestra's playing is of very high quality.
Kalevi Ahon's opening of the album, "The restless waters that have frozen over" is the first part of the 1996 Third Chamber Symphony, the other parts of which would also have a part for the saxophone soloist.
Onutė Narbutaitė's aphoristically named Oliko se perhonen - Was there a butterfly? from 2013 gets a wildly powerful, wonderful graphic edge from the sounds of the people of central Pohjan. I like Narbutaitė's music in general, and this piece, especially composed with the special features of the Central Ostrobothnia Chamber Orchestra in mind, is one of the finest string orchestra pieces I've come across. Erkki Salmenhaara's string ensemble works Elegia II and Elegia V remind us that the composer was always on the nerve of his time. The 1963 Elegia II for two string quartets brought György Ligeti's sound fields to Finnish music; the 1995 Elegy V for string orchestra is in the same way, and in quite the opposite way, a free-tonal, almost naively neo-romantic short, wistful poem. Even closer to our own time comes one of Einojuhani Rautavaara's last works, Canto V, self-rightfully composed for the Central Ostrobothnia Chamber Orchestra for the orchestra's 40th anniversary in 2012. However, the most recent work on the album is its closing piece, Musica serena by Pēteris Vasks, which is again a birthday gift to Juha Kankaa, who turned 70 a couple of years ago."
Listen to Yle Klassinen New albums 29.9.2017, edited by Ville Komppa/3.10.2017
"Guaranteed top quality from Kokkola! A disc consisting of works dedicated to the Central Ostrobothnia Chamber Orchestra and its founder and honorary conductor Juha Kankaa"
Rondo/10-2017
"The Keski-Ostrobothnia Chamber Orchestra, founded in Kokkola, recorded an album in which art music works dedicated to the honorary conductor Juha Kankaa can be heard. The virtuosity of the musicians serves the mood starting from the earth-shattering avalanche. Fascinating grandeur is pushed especially into the minds of Erkki Salmenhaara and Einojuhani Rautavaara."
**** Ilkka/ Juha Seitz 30 October 2017
"Over the decades, composers have dedicated numerous works to JUHA KANKAA and the Ostrobothnia Chamber Orchestra. Of the credited composers, the only one missing from the album is Pehr Henrik Nordgren, who is well represented on the orchestra's other recordings.
KANKAA's direct, honest and strong interpretation style becomes clear from the opening movement of Kalevi Aho's chamber symphony no. 3: "...the restless waters froze over"

The piercing glissandos and chirps of the free strings of the twenty-piece string orchestra are like an electric shock. There is also a great charge - albeit internal - in the foggy triads that solidify in between.
Lithuanian Onuté Narbutaité's "Was there a butterfly?" is the album's mysterious heart. Quiet clusters, bundles of close notes, are hauntingly beautiful, especially when KPKO plays them with extreme concentration. The intensity with which the music reaches for brightness is also scary. The album moves towards more balanced music. The turning point is between two works by Erkki Salmenhaara. The early Elegia II is built from pitches, while the late Elegia V is reduced to Sibelian chord sequences.
Einojuhani Rautavaara established melodic parallel movement as one means of expression, to which the second interval gives a sharp stamp. This sweetly lingering tone is often marred by a jerky vibrato. Kangas and KPKO give a lesson on how to clean the quarrel intervals of Canto V (Toward the Heart of Light). The bumpy sky gets more hope and brighter light.
Latvia's Peteris Vasks's Musica Serena ends the album with a soothing sadness after the full-singing climax has subsided.
FINLAND has a few orchestras that reach a high international level. One of them is KPKO, whose playing has a unique directness and uncompromisingness. "
***** Helsingin Sanomat/Jukka Isopuro 1 November 2017
"The chamber orchestra of the Central Ostrobothnia Chamber Orchestra and its founder and honorary conductor Juha Kangas are tireless advocates of new music. The new Alba record contains dedications made to them by different composers over a period of 20 years. The styles of the works are very different, but Kankaa's style and the chamber orchestra's personal sound at least make us imagine common denominators. At least a strong ethos and the pursuit of emotional honesty emerge as such - for these musicians, "serious is nice", even if the pelimanni base is part of the identity.
The opening of Kalevi Aho's third chamber symphony ...the restless waters freeze... contains Arabic heterophony, which requires precision on this particular disc to achieve its kaleidoscopically soaring power. The appearance of the part performed independently is dramatic: the glissandos tighten to the extreme, fizz under the force of friction and settle into silence like freezing water.
Oliko se perhonen by Lithuanian Onuté Narbutaité, on the other hand, is mostly static, brooding music, but the composer nevertheless finds a mysterious, poetic twinkle in its ostinato cycle.

Erkki Salmenhaara's succinct, new-tonal Canto V (1995) gets a funny pair from the field technique of Canto II, born in 1963. Although the sled has turned, the language is recognizable. Einojuhani Rautavaara's Kohti Valo's heart represents his dominant style of the 21st century, where the blissful eternal melody is accompanied by dissonant tensions and fast-paced time estimations. Peteris Vasks' Musica Serena from 2015 is a praise of beauty and serenity.
The sonorous richness and devotion of the performances are again guaranteed to be at the Central Pohlian level.
Rondo/Harri Kuusisaari 11/2017