Haapanen, Perttu - Flute Concerto; Ladies' Room; Compulsion Island - Lintu, Hannu

The Radio Symphony Orchestra's new album focuses on the works of Perttu Haapanen (b. 1972). Haapanen is one of the most important and interesting Finnish composers of his generation. It includes a recently composed flute concerto with Yuki Koyama as soloist and Dima Slobodeniouk as conductor, as well as two other works conducted by Hannu Lintu: a song cycle written for soprano Helena Juntunen and Compulsion Island, an orchestral work composed for the Radio Symphony Orchestra. Compulsion Island was commissioned by the Radio Symphony Orchestra and makes full use of the resources of a full-size symphony orchestra. Haapanen creates a multi-layered and richly tonal texture in which extended instrumental techniques play a significant and deliberate role. Starting with the opening trumpet solo, there are several solo sections (for violin, clarinet, tuba, etc.) that appear as individual voices in the chaotic mental landscape of the "island." Quiet, static and expectant but tense moments alternate with charged and striking rhythmic passages that intensify until the final climax, followed by a fading, dreamlike, unreal epilogue. The flute concerto lasts about 25 minutes and is a unified piece, which, according to the composer, is divided into two halves containing different material.