Kalevi Aho: Timpani & Piano Concertos

Album review

There exist concertos for more or less all instruments, although those for solo timpani are among the rarest, and almost all of them were written in the 20th and 21st centuries. So the Timpani Concerto by Finnish composer Kalevi Aho (born 1949), a follower of Rautavaara and Boris Blacher, adds a welcome stone to the repertoire. Note that the work is performed here by the solo timpanist of the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, Ari-Pekka Mäenpää. He uses five different timpanies, giving himself a range of around two octaves;as each timpani can – thanks to the pedal – cover a chromatic sixth interval. Far from limiting himself to the timpani's rhythmical aspect, Aho gives full rein to its many melodic possibilities, and the many different shades and tones that the timpani offers. In the second part of the album, we can discover the First Piano Concerto by the same Aho, written in 1988 – let the listener be the judge of the evolution or revolution in the composer's language. It is true that at points the concerto evokes Messiaen's influence, and also the influence of Bartók – all in an energetic, modern and very lively language, which is based (according to the notes) on a complex numerology, which it isn't necessary to understand – let's say that it's a personal specification of the writer's – to enjoy the beauty and the joy in the work. Moreover, Aho doesn't reject consonant harmonic minglings, or tonalities; his discourse is anything but serialist or inflexible. Might the final movement be an ornithological homage to Messiaen? © SM/Qobuz