Magnus Lindberg: Clarinet Concerto

Hi everyone, I know I hardly ever post, but I think this is worth checking out if you haven't already.

Magnus Lindberg is a Finnish composer who is increasingly popular in the English speaking world - several of his works have been recorded/performed by British ensembles, (check out the London Sinfonietta recording of Aura/cond. Oliver Knussen) and he is really worth checking out. His style is particularly energetic rhythmically and often very colourful harmonically - and while none of his work is tonal - it is largely consonant and hardly a challenge to anyone who can sit through bartok etc.

His orchestration is particularly noteworthy - he really has a refreshing apporach to intrumentation and texture, perhaps showing a little Lutoslawskian influence here and there, but his sound is mostly very original.

I strongly recommend this work to all, it's on iTunes and seriously worth downloading.

I recently saw the Canadian premier of his Seht die Sonne, paired with Mahler's 9th Symphony. It was quite good - if a little disjunct and random. An interesting composer, though. Worth checking out - thanks for mentioning him

Yup, I listened to his Kinetics, Marea and Joy the other day and they are incredible in terms of sound and textures. Another interesting piece that you might like is Finnisy's "red earth", as well as Andriessen's works, which are different but have a similar quality in their music

It's funny - I've yet to hear anything by Andriessen or Finnissey that I thought was worth listening to again...

Really? I find them both extremely interesting and enjoyable, especially Finnissy. Oh well, different tastes

Lol yeah of course. I always wonder if I've just heard the wrong stuff. Is there anything you recommend by Andriessen? Most of the Finnissy I know is from the 80s, and was pretty hard-going post-serial type stuff, but I have no idea what he's doing now.