Aulis Sallinen: String Quartet No. 3 "Aspects of Peltoniemi Hintrik's Funeral March" (1969) / String Quartet No. 4 "Silent Songs" (1971) / Jean Sibelius: String Quartet in D minor, Op. 56 (1909)

1. String Quartet No. 3 ("Some Aspects of Peltoniemi Hintrik's Funeral March"), Op. 19
Composed by Aulis Sallinen
with Fresk Quartet

2. String quartet, No 4 ("Quiet Songs")
Composed by Aulis Sallinen
with Fresk Quartet

3. String Quartet "Voces Intimae", in D minor, Op. 56
Composed by Jean Sibelius
with Fresk Quartet

Tracks:

Winter Was Hard Op. 20
Half-Wolf Dances Mad In Moonlight
Frates
Six Bagatelles Op. 9
Forbidden Fruit
Bella By Barlight
Four, For Tango
Quartet No. 3
Adagio
A Door Is Ajar

Customer Reviews:

A great Cd.......2002-09-23

I think this album should recieve 5 stars. I think this because Forbidden Fruit by Zorn is a great piece of music which everyone should be familiar with. He quotes some great stuff in the work...among other things an excerpt from Beethoven's Grosse Fugue for String quartet. The rest of the music on this CD is fantastic. I feel the reviewer below gave three stars due to a inability to understand Zorn. But if you don't fall under that category or if you are willing to listen and be openminded I reccomend this CD without reserve

Good Kronos Stuff.......2002-06-24

This album was my introduction to the Kronos Quartet. It is as good an introduction as I've heard. It illustrates both the positive and negative aspects of this talented quartet.

Some of the works on this recording are quite wonderful. Most exciting to me is the excerpt from Terry Riley's Salome Dances for Piece. The movement is exciting and stunningly played. It is also interesting to compare the version here with the version on the Kronos' recording of the complete work. If you listen to them side by side you can hear the extent of improvisation in the work. The most interesting thing is that, despite the improvisations, the work has a similar impact in each version.

Other gems on the CD include the Salonen title track, the Piazolla pieces, and a passionate reading of the Barber Adagio, perhaps the best I've ever heard. The Kronos also does a fine job with the Webern, though the competition here is much more fierce. And they also do a great job with the Schnittke Quartet, though I have always found the Russian composer's work hard to get close to.

Some of the other pieces are less successful. The quartet version of the Part Fratres is not bad, but does not have the impact of the all cello version. The Jon Lurie piece is a throwaway. And I have never understood the world's fascination with John Zorn. Just don't get it.

All in all, this is a good introduction to the work of the Kronos and most interesting for an alternate version of a major score by Terry Riley. But it's not a must have.

An Eclectic Mix.......1998-09-23

This is a terrific CD. From Webern to John Lurie, to John Zorn's wild "Forbidden Fruit," to a stunning rendition of Barber's Adagio in it's original String Quartet form, this album rocks. Okay, probably not the most appropriate description of a string quartet album, but it does--it rocks. I think this is my favorite recording of the Barber Adagio. Some challenging pieces, but for anyone that loves contemporary classical music, this is a great set.

Average customer rating:

Absolutely first rate! Performance & recording are excellent

Kronos Quartet
Philip Glass , Conlon Nancarrow , Jimi Hendrix , Hank Dutt , David Harrington , Joan Jeanrenaud , and John Sherba
Manufacturer: Nonesuch
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Quartets | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music
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Nuevo
Kronos Quartet Performs Philip Glass

ASIN: B000005IXL
Release Date: 1990-10-25

Tracks:

String Quartet No. 8: Con dolore
String Quartet No. 8: Risoluto
String Quartet No. 8: Con dolore
String Quartet No. 8: Con precisione
String Quartet No. 8: Con dolore
String Quartet No. 3: Some Aspects Of Peltoniemi Hintrik's Funderal March
Company: Company - I
Company: Company - II
Company: Company - III
Company: Company - IV
String Quartet: Allegro molto
String Quartet: Andante moderato
String Quartet: Prestissimo
Purple Haze

Amazon.com essential recording

How odd that the recording that gained Kronos its initial fame proves to be the group's least remarkable: Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze," from the group's 1985 Nonesuch debut. At the time of its release, this encore of Hendrix's canonical rock song gave many traditional cultural commentators pause, and many young fans reason to rejoice. But as the years have passed and Kronos's members have become rock stars themselves (of a sort), listeners have come to find the pleasures promised by the Hendrix cover--soul, visceral rocking, rebellion--elsewhere on this record. The Slavic tinge of Aulis Sallinen's String Quartet No. 3 offers enough melancholy for half a dozen popular songs (and, about four minutes in, some very Hendrix-like rhythms). "Psychedelic" may be the best word to describe the myriad, rapid-fire patterns of the second and fourth movements of Philip Glass's "Company." And there are few rebels so legendary in America as Conlon Nancarrow, who lived in self-exile in Mexico and whose work, this String Quartet notwithstanding, is often too complicated for humans to play. --Marc Weidenbaum

Customer Reviews:

Absolutely first rate! Performance & recording are excellent.......1998-09-23

I am far from knowledgable about music. However, this is a marvelous introduction to contemporary music as arranged for a string quartet. The vision and versatility of this group are really laid out here.

The only piece that jars is "Purple Haze," which, sorry folks, just doesn't work with strings. While I greatly applaud Kronos' willingness to try on a rock masterpiece, Hendrix said everything that needs to be said.

Tracks:

Complete Works For String Orchestra: Some Aspects Of Peltoniemi Hintrik's Funderal March - String Quartet No. 3, Op. 19 Arranged Fro String Orchestra
Complete Works For String Orchestra: Chamber Music I, Op.38
Complete Works For String Orchestra: Sunrise Serenade, Op. 63 - For Two Trumpets, Piano And String Orchestra
Complete Works For String Orchestra: Chamber Music II, Op.41- For Alto Flute And String Orchestra
Complete Works For String Orchestra: Chamber Music III, Op.58 For Cello And String Orchestra (The Nocturnal Dances Of Don Juanquixote)

Customer Reviews:

Leaning more against tradition than I like.......2001-08-29

The previous reviewer said it all I will just add a little complaint I felt about this music. Unknown to the works of Sallinen I first got hold of him being played by the Kronos Quartet playing an excerpt of String Quartet No. 3. Intrigued I bought this but felt disappointed. Sallinen doesn't exercise enough friction in his works, it's only the "joy of creating" that shines through withouth ever reaching the goal of creating something unique. Quartet No. 3 has a few enticing passages, mostly were he mixes it with the folkmelody but he doesn't manage to create a coherent work. Chamber Music II op. 41 for alto flute and string orchestra stands out as the best effort, clearly romantic in its building it has a sheer beauty much of the other works lack. Still, it's worth the money, but not much more. **(*) on the barometer.

Great Music by a Fellow Countryman of the Reviewer.......2000-02-22

Aulis Sallinen (b. 1935) is maybe the most famous Finnish composer abroad apart from Sibelius (or at least he was before Rautavaara), and String Quartet No. 3 (1970, arrangation for string orchestra 1981) is probably his best-known instrumental work - at least in Finland (Washington Mosaics, for example, might be better known abroad). Quartet No. 3 isn't a "real" string quartet in sonata form, but a one-movement series of variations on the Finnish folk tune Hintriikki Peltoniemi's Funeral March (better translation). The first two Chamber Musics make use of similar techniques, and elements of folk music are also present in them, though not so obviously. I (1975) is scored for pure strings, while II (1976) gets a special colour from a solo part for alto flute.

A common feature to these three works is that they are all (intentionally) short of thematic material, but it's viewed in many different aspects and varied richly through various possibilities of composition and playing that modern music can provide. Still, Sallinen's work is firmly based on traditions of tonality and melody which have sometimes made him known as a "Neo-Romantic" composer. His music is also easily approachable because of clarity, spontaneity and the unique feel of "joy of invention" that has been its characteristic trademark from the beginning.

In the two remaining works from the 1980s the "Neo-Romantic" epithet becomes more and more justified. Both compositions make use of some material from Sallinen's celebrated operas (The King Goes to France and Kullervo) and there's a slight touch of programme music in themselves, too. Chamber Music III (1986) contains a solo part for cello - a close instrument to Sallinen, whose major works include a concerto for it. This 20-minute work is a series of highly rhythmic and energetic dancing pieces, often with a grotesque or humoristic nature. The briefer Sunrise Serenade (1989) for 2 trumpets, piano and strings might be continuation to "The Nocturnal Dances of Don Juanquixote", being an evocative "Neo-Impressionistic" depiction of the transition from dark to light.

In my opinion, Sallinen has succeeded perfectly in combining musical elements of today and the past. Due to his traditional starting points, this music might be particularly suitable to be listened by those who are afraid of the so called modern music or want to familiarize themselves with it but don't know what to start with. And, as hard as it is to find contemporary music on CD with reasonable prices, this recording by first-class artists should be noticed by every music lover at all.

Aulis Sallinen: String Quartets 1-5
Average customer rating:

Certainly an impressive pack of string quartets

Cold, emotional

Aulis Sallinen: String Quartets 1-5

Manufacturer: Ondine
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Quartets | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000003784
Release Date: 1995-05-23

Tracks:

I. Lento
II. Interludium
III. Vivace
String Quartet No. 2 'Canzona'
'Some Aspects Of Peltoniemi Hintrik's Funeral March' : 1. Marcia Funebre 2. Variation 1 3. Variation 2 4. Intermezzo 5. Variation 3 6. Intermezzo 7. Variation 4 8. Variation 5
String Quartet No. 4 'Quiet Songs'
'Pieces of Mosaic' /1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10/11/12/13/14/15/16

Customer Reviews:

Certainly an impressive pack of string quartets.......2006-04-19

There are 15 quartets from Shostakovich and 6 from Bartok. Mostly these two authors are the only remembered for 20th century string quartets. One should also notice the five quartets from a respected Finnish composer Aulis Sallinen.
His quartets range from an early expressionistic style, similar to Berg, like first and second quartet, while the third is a masterpiece. Based on a popular Finnish tune, the music is sometimes spiced with amusing glissandos to nearly folk-like simplified use of harmonic development. It is clearly the most popular Finnish string quartet.
The fourth quartet is also quite simple, but it uses more quiet and relaxed sonic world with meditation (as the title Quiet songs suggests). The fifth quartet slightly suffers from a mosaic like form, which does not convince the content of the work, just like Sallinen?s fifth symphony.
Nevertheless, Sallinen?s output of string quartets deserves a fine statue in the 20th century music history. The performances on this CD are very well tuned and sensibly performed.

Cold, emotional.......2002-04-10

This masterpiece is somewhat a bridge between cold modern classic music and emotional expression (which often ignored in modern music).
I recommend this one to rock music fans, the people who loves to listen Mogwai, God Speed You Black Emperor! and Sigur Ros. You can find another form of sadness, darkness and hope.

Sallinen: String quartet No3; Symphony No3

Average customer rating:

Sallinen: String quartet No3; Symphony No3

Manufacturer: Bis
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

Modern & 20th Century | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

Marches | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music

Classic Big Band | Swing Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music
ASIN: B00000166E
Release Date: 1994-09-01

Tracks:

Sinfonia
Chorali - Paavo Berglund
Il Tempo Energico E Sostenuto
Chaconne
Vivace Giocoso. Finale
Cadenze - Paavo Pohjola
Elegy For Sebastian Knight, Opus 10 - Frans Helmerson
String Quartet - Voces Intimae String Quartet

Amazon.com

Sallinen (b. 1935) is a Finnish composer who has taken Sibelius's obvious influences well into post-modernism at the end of the 20th century. The two great works on this disc are the Sinfonia (of 1971), his first symphony, and his Sinfonia III (1974-'75). He works with an organic expansion of motifs that can be either tonal or atonal (or both at the same time). This is the riveting strategy of Sinfonia. His third symphony, Sinfonia III, develops the main argument in the same, drawn-out organic pattern--chaconne--but now the thematic elements are more song-like. --Paul Cook