Marko Ylonen, Helsinki Philharmonic orchestra, Max Pommer - Rautavaara: Symphony No.6 'Vincentiana', Cello concerto (1994)

Both pieces on htis CD are capable of making a lasting impression on the listener with their energy and power of expression, much like the art of van Gogh, who served as the inspiration for the opera Vincent from which Rautavaara derived his 6th Symphony. As one might expect of music based on the life and works of this artist, the Vincentiana Symphony is colorful, expressive, and in some passages, tempestuous and tormented. Not only does Rautavaara employ the standard forces of the orchestra in usual and unusual ways, but he also makes effective use of a synthesizer at various points in the score, with particularly effective results in the third movement ("Saint-Rémy"), where the synthesizer is used to generate other-worldly sounds that sound eerily appropriate.
Rautavaara's Cello Concerto (1968) is much more conventional in its scoring and sonority, but is nonetheless dramatic and expressive, with the cello soloist given ample opportunity to make the instrument really sing. Interestingly enough, the liner notes for this CD were written by Kalevi Aho (b. 1949), a student of Rautavaara whose 8th and 9th symphonies are reviewed in these pages above.
The recording quality is excellent, with striking clarity and wide dynamics. The cello seems larger than life in the Concerto, but such is true of nearly all concerto recordings and of many concerto performances in the concert hall, to be truly honest, although perhaps paradoxical or at least contrary.