Songs of Late Summer

Featuring

Sami Luttinen
Tuula Hällström
Mikko Heiniö
Yrjö Kilpinen

Did you know?

1/7

Performer Biography

Tuula Hällström, the pianist on this album, specializes in Lieder and chamber music, and won Finland's only Lieder pianist competition in 1999.

Interpretation

Although Kilpinen's "Reflexer" was mostly written for a middle-range voice, Sami Luttinen, a bass, had the cycle transposed to suit his voice, with some songs dropped by as much as a fourth.

Performer Biography

Sami Luttinen, the bass on this recording, won the Timo Mustakallio Singing Competition in 1993 and has performed at major opera houses including La Scala and the Finnish National Opera.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Mikko Heiniö considers Lassi Nummi, the poet for "Song of Late Summer," to be the lyricist above all others, admiring both what he says and how he says it.

Compositional Technique

Yrjö Kilpinen's "Reflexer" was inspired by Pär Lagerkvist's existentialist musings, leading Kilpinen, primarily a Neoclassicist, to adopt an expressionistic idiom that sometimes tests the boundaries of tonality.

Composer Biography

Pär Lagerkvist, the poet for Kilpinen's "Reflexer," was a Nobel Prize winner in Literature who explored the mystery of existence and man's place in the universe throughout his career.

Composition History

Mikko Heiniö's "Song of Late Summer" was originally written for bass and piano, but was transposed for baritone and orchestrated when a basso profondo was unavailable in Finland.