# Kalevi Aho: Anyone else?



## Omicron9 (Oct 13, 2016)

Greetings.

I've been digging Aho's concertos and symphonic works of late. I don't see his name mentioned here, or maybe I've just not been around these parts long enough.

Here's an example:






Just the fact that he'd write a concerto for Contrabassoon makes me love him.

-09


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Yes I have enjoyed his music one of the better living composers.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

BIS released a large number of CD's of his work and I got most of them. One of my favourite living composers.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

He was recently mentioned a few times in wind concertos topic.


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## Omicron9 (Oct 13, 2016)

Pugg said:


> He was recently mentioned a few times in wind concertos topic.


Thanks, Pugg; obviously I missed that, but will go in search of it now....


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

I'm getting into his Sym #12 "Luosto" - interesting work..has some very effective writing...


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

Are there any composers left who are _not_ Finnish? 

I'll have to go dig into his work a bit...


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## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

*Aho Lives*

I have been an Aho fan for years.

My favorite work is still the first one of his symphonies that I became familiar with: _The Second_.

Whenever some of the wanna be classical music experts around here claim that Shostakovich was the last great symphonist, I use Aho as one of the examples of a living great symphonist.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

I was introduced to him through David Hurwitz's book on Sibelius; it included a CD with a track of one of his pieces. I keep meaning to explore him further, but I always get distracted. Ars longa, vita brevis and all that kind of thing.


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## Vasks (Dec 9, 2013)

I have 4-5 selections of his. I like him best when he's being quirky in a fun way, less so when he's super-serious-intense-chaotic.


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## cimirro (Sep 6, 2016)

He is a very interesting composer, I enjoy everything I have heard by him (exactly like his master Rautavaara)


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## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

brianvds said:


> Are there any composers left who are _not_ Finnish?
> 
> I'll have to go dig into his work a bit...


Some of the ones I have mentioned are Richard Danielpour, John Corigliano, John Adams, David Maslanka, Donald Grantham, Frank Ticheli and Cindy McTee (she is currently married to Leonard Slatkin) among the Americans. The owner of this site, Frederik Magle, is a successful composer from Denmark. I have mentioned many composer from all over the world many times.

Because I believe that there are many living composers that are just as good as the great masters of the 18th and 19th century I have gotten into trouble in many classical music forums including this one

I remember with one member who thought classical music died with the death of Shostakovich, I used an Aho symphony, I think is was the _Second_, as an example of a great post 1970 symphony. I asked him to tell what was wrong with the work and he never replied.


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## cimirro (Sep 6, 2016)

arpeggio said:


> Because I believe that there are many living composers that are just as good as the great masters of the 18th and 19th century I have gotten into trouble in many classical music forums including this one
> 
> I remember with one member who thought classical music died with the death of Shostakovich, I used an Aho symphony, I think is was the _Second_, as an example of a great post 1970 symphony. I asked him to tell what was wrong with the work and he never replied.


Don't worry, it will happens every time you write them the true 
(I say thank you for such musical love related to contemporary music)


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

Yup, what Arpeggio wrote is the too-often disputed truth.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Vasks said:


> I have 4-5 selections of his. I like him best when he's being quirky in a fun way, less so when he's super-serious-intense-chaotic.


It's just the opposite for me, fun not being something I appreciate in music.


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

arpeggio said:


> Some of the ones I have mentioned are Richard Danielpour, John Corigliano, John Adams, David Maslanka, Donald Grantham, Frank Ticheli and Cindy McTee (she is currently married to Leonard Slatkin) among the Americans. The owner of this site, Frederik Magle, is a successful composer from Denmark. I have mentioned many composer from all over the world many times.


I was of course just joking, though it is noteworthy just how many fine musicians and composers Finland has produced over the last century.



> Because I believe that there are many living composers that are just as good as the great masters of the 18th and 19th century I have gotten into trouble in many classical music forums including this one


There is no particular reason to suppose that genius automatically belongs in the distant past, and thus, I would expect that our own time will produce its own set of genius composers, who will in time be regarded as highly as the three Bs. But we don't know who they are: it takes a century or so before it becomes clear who the greats were. 

Of late I have become interested in 20th century and contemporary composers, and I have already run into plenty of work that strikes me as marvelous. It is of course true that there was also a lot of experimental work, and some of those wild experiments were perhaps not really successful. They also managed to put off a lot of music lovers, including even most classical music lovers.

So now there's a lot to dig through to discover the things we really like, but now that we have YouTube it no longer costs a fortune to make the discoveries, so I am nowadays far more willing to do so.


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## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

brianvds said:


> I was of course just joking, though it is noteworthy just how many fine musicians and composers Finland has produced over the last century.


Sorry I overreacted to your post


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## mant (Apr 25, 2017)

Omicron9 said:


> Greetings.
> 
> I've been digging Aho's concertos and symphonic works of late. I don't see his name mentioned here, or maybe I've just not been around these parts long enough.
> 
> ...


thanks, very new name to my ears
any other good recommendations of his music?


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