Symphonies 1 & 2

Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra · Seppo Pohjola · Sakari Oramo

2012 · ABCD 339

Credits

Performers: Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Composers: Seppo Pohjola
Conductors and other contributors: Sakari Oramo — Conductor

About this release

Seppo Pohjola: Symphonies 1 & 2
Radio Symphony Orchestra
Sakari Oramo conductor
Seppo Pohjolan's Symphonies 1 & 2 as world premiere recordings
On Seppo Pohjola's new composition disc, symphonies no. 1 & 2 can be heard as fine interpretations by the Radio Symphony Orchestra led by Sakari Oramo.
Jouni Kaipainen, who wrote the work introduction text in the album booklet, describes the symphonies:
Seppo Pohjola's Symphony No. 1 is a beautiful and convincing monument to the brothers and great musicians, but the author would not be a genuine Pohjola if it did not include one and the other less self-evident.
Symphony No. 2 contains no quotations or even direct allusions. Pohjola is once again confident in its ability to create situations with a distinctive profile, the usual development is in a lesser position. A particularly clearly thought-out area is orchestration.
[...] From the orchestra, Pohjola gets undeniably effective tones, and the sound is both sensitive and handsome.

Tracks

Symphony No. 1 (2002)
1.Icomp. Seppo Pohjola (b.1965)ISRC FIABA120008610:23
2.IIcomp. Seppo Pohjola (b.1965)ISRC FIABA12000879:18
3.IIIcomp. Seppo Pohjola (b.1965)ISRC FIABA12000884:53
4.IVcomp. Seppo Pohjola (b.1965)ISRC FIABA12000896:17
Symphony No. 2 (2006)
5.Icomp. Seppo PohjolaISRC FIABA120009010:22
6.IIcomp. Seppo PohjolaISRC FIABA120009110:32
7.IIIcomp. Seppo PohjolaISRC FIABA12000925:15
8.IVcomp. Seppo PohjolaISRC FIABA12000933:29

Reviews

These symphonies by no means offer the kind of complexity which you would associate with the late lamented Elliott Carter, and this music isn’t difficult in that way.
MusicWeb International · Dominy Clements · January 16, 2013
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Both of these symphonies are worthy of attention, and these performances by Finland’s best orchestra directed by Sakari Oramo are superb.
ClassicalCDReview.com · Robert Benson · February 6, 2013
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Seppo Pohjola is…an interesting discovery… this disc provides a very positive and exciting introduction to his output.
The
Symphony No. 1
…is a deep and emotional work…I found this whole work quite interesting with great drama throughout.
Pohjola’s second
Symphony
is…extremely interesting…I was particularly taken with the bold second movement, with its brass punctuations and runs up and down the winds and strings…The third movement is also quite impressive for its slow, mysterious…
Audiophile Audition · Daniel Coombs · March 25, 2013
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This is my third year of having to compile a Want List for the preceding year’s CD issues that have come through my hands courtesy of Fanfare Central. Each year has proven a greater challenge than the preceding year to whittle down the number of fine issues that I have reviewed to a mere select five. Even my self-imposed restrictions of choosing only single-composer CDs, and those that I have myself reviewed, haven’t helped much this year. There were at least 20 strong contenders, and in the…
Fanfare · David DeBoor Canfield · October 30, 2013
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The symphonies Nos. 1 and 2 of the Finnish composer Seppo Pohjola (b. 1965) are terrific additions to the symphonic canon, sitting somewhere between Shostakovich and Lutosławski and blazing with manic energy; the orchestral writing is hair-raisingly virtuosic but Sakari Oramo and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra acquit themselves splendidly. © 2013
Fanfare
Fanfare · Martin Anderson · October 31, 2013
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There are passages which sound like tonal Xenakis, if such a concept makes any sense.
La Folia · Grant Chu Covell · July 5, 2024
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You’ll want to hear Pohjola’s Symphony No 3 in the recording of its world premiere on YouTube, but here is the groundwork: the composer’s first two symphonies from the same team, the Finnish RSO under Sakari Oramo, who combine their fearlessness of Pohjola’s technical demands with emotional attachment.
Gramophone · Andrew Mellor · January 12, 2026
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”This music is excitement personified, and ought to win this composer a lot of admirers-and performances. [..]
Indeed, this composer’s ear for color, combined with his inventiveness, sets him above the mass of composers of our time. This is inspired music of the highest caliber, and belongs in the collection of any serious devotee of contemporary music. The disc receives my highest recommendation, and will be a strong Want List contender, not only for the music, but for the superb performances…
Fanfare Magazine · David DeBoor Canfield
”Two extraordinary symphonies by Finn Seppo Pohjola, who shows himself again to be an unquestionably major composer of our time. […] The two works share thematic consistency. Both have episodes of stunning beauty, forest calls, and more of those horn solos. The hyper-virtuosic fast music (the scherzo in particular) turns this into an SACD spectacular that should delight fans of deliriously scintillating symphonic writing. After the respite of the expressive and gleaming slow movement, the Rite…
American Record Guide · GIMBEL May
”…These are extremely accomplished and engaging symphonies that, being broadly tonal, will appeal to those who might otherwise feel intimidated by contemporary orchestral pieces. Moreover there’s a Puckish glee in much of Pohjola’s writing that really appeals to me; it’s certainly whetted my appetite for his other works, some of which have the most intriguing titles.
RSO:n Seppo Pohjola -sinfonialevy Kuukauden levy MusicWeb Internationalissa!
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Kalevi Aho’s endlessly fascinating œuvre
has given me great pleasure and spurred my interest in Finnish
music. Einojuhani Rautavaara is another find, albeit one in
its early stages, and I’ve come to admire the organ works
of Oskar Merikanto and others of his ilk via Kalevi Kiviniemi’s
superb Fuga recordings.
Katso koko arvio / See the review: MusicWeb International
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Vuoden paras kotimainen säveltäjäprofiililevy
”[…] Kyseessä on sekä teosten että tulkinnan suhteen kauden paras kotimainen nykymusiikkilevy.
[…] RSO ja Oramo hallitsevat suomalaisen, sointuvan ja menevän nykymusiikin niin suvereenisti, että näistä muutenkin vetovoimaisista teoksista tulee poikkeuksellisen helppoja lähestyä myös ihan tavalliselle kuulijalle.
[…] Selväpiirteinen yleisilme sisältää kuitenkin loputtomasti yksityiskohtia ja hienonhienoja sointisäikeitä, jotka huumaavat kuulijan.…
YLE Uudet levyt · Kare Eskola
”Mitä enemmän Seppo Pohjolan kahta ensimmäistä sinfoniaa (2002 ja 2006) kuuntelee, sitä omintakeisemmilta ne tuntuvat. Soitinnus on loisteliasta. Perinteisen kehittelyn sijasta yönhiljainen, pehmeänä mattona levittäytyvä musiikki, ilakoiva pulssi ja railakas rymistely vuorottelevat äkisti.
[…] Kokonaisuus on yhtenäinen, samaan ääniavaruuteen kuuluva, eikä lainkaan kollaasimainen.
[…] Toisessa sinfoniassa on orkesterikonserton kaltaista taituruutta, poukkoilevia sooloja ja kerroksittain nytkyttäviä rytmejä.”
Jukka
Helsingin Sanomat · Jukka Isopuro