Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra
The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra is one of the most adventurous orchestras in Europe and one of the best orchestras in a country that has more symphonies per capita than any other. Based in Helsinki, it is the primary radio orchestra of the Finnish Broadcasting Company (Yle). The FRSO was founded in 1927 as a small studio ensemble at Finnish Radio, the state-owned broadcasting organization led by Erkki Linko. The orchestra grew over the next several decades, reaching symphony orchestra size in 1947, and now comprises about 90 members. Its repertory is made up primarily of Classical and Romantic works, but also includes those of the Post-Romantic, Modern, and contemporary eras. In its performances and recordings, the orchestra has become a significant advocate for contemporary Finnish composers. It premieres new works commissioned by the broadcasting company each year; during the 2018-2019 season, the FRSO premiered four such works. Its first chief conductor was Toivo Haapanen, who held the post from 1929 until 1950. Other conductors for the FRSO include Paavo Berglund, Leif Segerstam, Okku Kamu, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, and Sakari Oramo. Hannu Lintu was named chief conductor in 2013, holding this post until 2021. Nicholas Collon was selected to become the chief conductor beginning in 2021. Under Saraste, tours became a regular practice for the orchestra and have taken it through Europe, Asia, the U.S., and the Canary Islands. In addition to all of the FRSO's concerts being broadcast, the orchestra has made dozens of recordings. In 1939, the FRSO made its first recording, which is the only surviving recording of Jean Sibelius conducting. Other Finnish composers featured on FRSO releases include Leif Segerstam, Leevi Madetoja, Paavo Heininen, Joonas Kokkonen, Magnus Lindberg, Kaija Saariaho, Aarre Merikanto, Aulis Sallinen, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Väinö Raitio, Jouni Kaipainen, Uuno Klami, and Eero Hämeenniemi. The orchestra has won several kudos, including two Grammophone awards: one in 2006 for Lindberg: Clarinet Concerto and the other in 2018 for Bartók: Violin Concertos. In 2019, the orchestra was heard on the Ondine album Kaija Saariaho: True Fire; Trans; Ciel d'hiver, which earned a Grammy award nomination. The FRSO has recorded mainly for the BIS and Ondine labels.© Joseph Stevenson & Keith Finke /TiVo Read more
The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra is one of the most adventurous orchestras in Europe and one of the best orchestras in a country that has more symphonies per capita than any other. Based in Helsinki, it is the primary radio orchestra of the Finnish Broadcasting Company (Yle).
The FRSO was founded in 1927 as a small studio ensemble at Finnish Radio, the state-owned broadcasting organization led by Erkki Linko. The orchestra grew over the next several decades, reaching symphony orchestra size in 1947, and now comprises about 90 members. Its repertory is made up primarily of Classical and Romantic works, but also includes those of the Post-Romantic, Modern, and contemporary eras. In its performances and recordings, the orchestra has become a significant advocate for contemporary Finnish composers. It premieres new works commissioned by the broadcasting company each year; during the 2018-2019 season, the FRSO premiered four such works.
Its first chief conductor was Toivo Haapanen, who held the post from 1929 until 1950. Other conductors for the FRSO include Paavo Berglund, Leif Segerstam, Okku Kamu, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, and Sakari Oramo. Hannu Lintu was named chief conductor in 2013, holding this post until 2021. Nicholas Collon was selected to become the chief conductor beginning in 2021. Under Saraste, tours became a regular practice for the orchestra and have taken it through Europe, Asia, the U.S., and the Canary Islands.
In addition to all of the FRSO's concerts being broadcast, the orchestra has made dozens of recordings. In 1939, the FRSO made its first recording, which is the only surviving recording of Jean Sibelius conducting. Other Finnish composers featured on FRSO releases include Leif Segerstam, Leevi Madetoja, Paavo Heininen, Joonas Kokkonen, Magnus Lindberg, Kaija Saariaho, Aarre Merikanto, Aulis Sallinen, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Väinö Raitio, Jouni Kaipainen, Uuno Klami, and Eero Hämeenniemi. The orchestra has won several kudos, including two Grammophone awards: one in 2006 for Lindberg: Clarinet Concerto and the other in 2018 for Bartók: Violin Concertos. In 2019, the orchestra was heard on the Ondine album Kaija Saariaho: True Fire; Trans; Ciel d'hiver, which earned a Grammy award nomination. The FRSO has recorded mainly for the BIS and Ondine labels.
© Joseph Stevenson & Keith Finke /TiVo
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Lutosławski: Symphonies Nos. 2 & 3
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Hannu Lintu
Classical - Released by Ondine on Feb 7, 2020
Diapason d'orIn 1966, Pierre Boulez conducted the world premiere of Witold Lutoslawski’s Second Symphony. Boulez was then the head of the NDR orchestra in Hamburg ...
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
György Ligeti : Violin Concerto - Lontano - Atmosphères - San Francisco Polyphony
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Benjamin Schmid, Hannu Lintu
Classical - Released by Ondine on Sep 24, 2013
Hi-Res Audio5 de DiapasonGramophone Editor's ChoiceListeners looking for a good pick to start getting acquainted with the music of Hungarian composer György Ligeti can look no further than this Finnish ...
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Sibelius: Lemminkäinen-Suite, Pohjola's Daughter
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Hannu Lintu
Classical - Released by Ondine on Apr 14, 2015
5 de Diapason24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Sibelius: Tapiola, En saga & Songs
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Christoffer Sundqvist, Anne Sofie von Otter, Hannu Lintu, Ilari Angervo
Classical - Released by Ondine on Oct 13, 2017
Gramophone Editor's Choice5 Sterne Fono Forum KlassikThe star artist on this Finnish release is mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter, and the orchestrations of the eight Sibelius voice-and-piano songs here ...
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Melartin: Orchestral Works
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Soile Isokoski, Hannu Lintu
Classical - Released by Ondine on Jun 10, 2016
5 de Diapason24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Magnus Lindberg: Tempus fugit & Violin Concerto No. 2
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Frank Peter Zimmermann, Hannu Lintu
Classical - Released by Ondine on Aug 14, 2018
Finnish composer Magnus Lindberg memorialized Witold Lutoslawski in the 1994 orchestral work Aura, and he has gradually emerged as Lutoslawski's succe ...
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Magnus Lindberg: Al largo, Cello Concerto No. 2 & Era
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Anssi Karttunen, Hannu Lintu
Classical - Released by Ondine on Mar 4, 2016
Choc de Classica24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Berio: Ritirata notturna di Madrid, Calmo & Sinfonia
Classical - Released by Ondine on Sep 29, 2014
Gramophone Editor's ChoiceWithout doubt the major work of Luciano Berio's career, Sinfonia was a touchstone of the avant-garde of the mid-20th century, because it represented v ...
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Sebastian Fagerlund: Drifts, Stonework & Guitar Concerto "Transit"
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Ismo Eskelinen, Hannu Lintu
Classical - Released by BIS on Mar 2, 2018
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Symphonies n°5 et n°6
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sakari Oramo
Classical - Released by Ondine on Aug 7, 2012
Hi-Res Audio5 de Diapason24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Tauno Marttinen: Orchestral Works
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by Finlandia Classics on Oct 12, 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
KLAMI, U.: Lemminkainen's Adventures on an Island / The Cobblers on the Heath / Karelian Rhapsody / A Karelian Market / In the Belly of Vipunen
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Petri Lindroos, Sakari Oramo, Polytech Male Choir
Classical - Released by Ondine on Jan 1, 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
KOKKONEN, J.: Symphonies Nos. 1 and 2 / Opus sonorum (Finnish Radio Symphony, Oramo)
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sakari Oramo
Classical - Released by Ondine on Jan 1, 2008
Finland had been looking for the successor to Jean Sibelius, the country's great nationalist composer of heroic symphonies, for decades before Joonas ...
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Raitio: Orchestral Works (Fantasia poetica, Fantasia estatica, The Swans, etc.
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Jukka-Pekka Saraste
Classical - Released by Ondine on Jan 1, 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Hameenniemi, E.: Symphony No. 3 / Viola Concerto
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Tommi Aalto, Sakari Oramo, Hannu Lintu
Classical - Released by Alba on Jan 1, 2006
Finnish composer Eero Hämeenniemi was born in 1951, but the two pieces recorded here, written in 1999 and 2001, reflect a musical aesthetic of an earl ...
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mahler: Symphony No. 1 in D Major & Blumine
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Hannu Lintu
Classical - Released by Ondine on Oct 30, 2015
Most recordings of Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 1 in D major present it as it was published in 1899, in the definitive four-movement version. Yet an e ...
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
MUSSORGSKY: Pictures at an Exhibition / St. John's Night on Bald Mountain
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Martti Talvela, Leif Segerstam, Neeme Järvi
Classical - Released by BIS on Jan 31, 1986
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Pohjola: Symphonies 1 & 2
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sakari Oramo
Classical - Released by Alba on Jul 16, 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
LINDBERG, M.: Sculpture / Campana in Aria / Concerto for Orchestra (Tapani, Finnish Radio Symphony, Oramo)
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Esa Tapani, Sakari Oramo
Classical - Released by Ondine on Jan 1, 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
MIELCK, E.: Symphony in F minor / Konzertstuck in D major
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, John Storgårds, Sakari Oramo
Classical - Released by Ondine on Jan 1, 2003
Finnish composer Ernst Mielck was regarded in his time as having been a possible contender to the mantle of Jean Sibelius. However, such promise was s ...
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Klami : All'ouverture, Sea Pictures, Kalevala Suite
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by Fazer Records - Finlandia on Oct 15, 1987
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo