Avanti!, Bombay Jayashri, Laura Leisma, John Storgårds - Eero Hämeenniemi: Red Earth and Rain (SACD)
- Product Code: ABCD 320
Eero Hämeenniemi
Red Earth and Rain
Avanti! John Storgårds
Bombay Jayashri
Laura Leisma
Greetings from India: Two magnificent works by a composer turning 60
The new album Red Earth and Rain, released on April 29, features the world premiere recordings of two major song cycles by Eero Hämeenniemi, who is celebrating his 60th birthday: Sade ja punainen maa (Red Earth and Pouring Rain) (2008), composed for the low Indian female voice of Bombay Jayashri, a leading female singer of South Indian classical Carnatic music, and Lintu ja tuuli (Bird and Wind) (1994), composed for a Western soprano voice, performed on the album by Laura Leisma. Both works feature the magnificent playing of the Avanti! chamber orchestra under the baton of John Storgårds.
Rain and Red Earth is based on short love poems in Tamil from the Kuruntokai collection, dating back over two millennia. Through five poems, the song cycle tells the story of a young couple from the woman’s perspective. Rain and Red Earth includes improvised solos for Bombay Jayashri and for violin virtuoso Minna Pensola, who follows the singer like a shadow. Bass clarinet wizard Heikki Nikula and Indian percussion maestros Pungkulam Subramaniam and S. Karthick also have their own solos.
The Indian influence is also evident in the song cycle Lintu ja tuuli (Bird and Wind), which combines Finnish folk poems with classical Indian texts. Between the songs, there are dance interludes and a grand orchestral climax.
FORMAT: SACD
