The Records We Have Released

S’il vous plaît

Two musical traditions come together in my playing.

Through my teacher, Vladimir Dolgopolov, I have inherited the power, drama and sweeping musical lines of the Russian accordion tradition. My own roots are Nordic, reflected in my pursuit of clarity, space and directness.

Between these two traditions, I find a balance where intensity and transparency can coexist.

Se se on rokkii... ja sinfoniaa!

The idea of making a symphonic album had been simmering since the 1980s. Back then, I appeared as a guest soloist with various city orchestras, and those experiences lit a spark that has now finally become a reality.

The album Se se on rokkii… ja sinfoniaa (That’s Rock ’n’ Roll… and Symphony) was created in collaboration with Oulu Sinfonia and the Kuopio City Orchestra, both conducted by Jukka Myllys. A new generation of arrangers – Sampo Kasurinen, Artturi Rönkä, Jussi Lampela and Perttu Vänskä – came up with arrangements that really rock, but also have their tender moments. At times, they even sound like something straight out of Hollywood!

Jukka Myllys was full of admiration for the arrangements. He said we’d created something truly special – a landmark work bringing together different musical worlds, emotions and colours.

The album features nine songs that I wrote either on my own or together with Harri, including 11 virran maa and Ihmisen ikävä. There’s also a touch of Juice Leskinen, with Per Vers. Jukka Myllys created a wonderful swing arrangement of Maalaispoika, while Masi Luoma arranged Suojelusenkeli.

The album also includes Finnish-language versions of some songs that mean a lot to me: Pelit seis, Beethoven (Roll Over Beethoven), Anna mulle lovee (Gimme Some Lovin’), Milloin viimeksi mä kerroin sulle? (Have I Told You Lately?) and Yhä pitkä matka kesään (Långholmsgatan 2).

Mikko Alatalo

Kirjoitin joulun

Three Christmas cards, three accomplished arrangers, three festive landscapes.

Kirjoitin joulun (I wrote christmas) offers a heartwarming collection of Christmas traditions wrapped in a fresh new way for the darkest time of the year. This unique album highlights the vital role of arrangers in enriching musical works and bringing new layers of meaning to familiar melodies. KYN’s 11th album is a powerful and moving testament to the choir’s enduring ability to reinvent itself.

Pyhä Jumala - Svjatij Bozhe - Holy God

The anniversary album of the Finnish Orthodox Cantors’ Choir (SOKK) offers a refreshing blend of traditional and contemporary Orthodox sacred music from Finland and beyond. The album presents a rich selection of Finnish Orthodox choral music, spanning generations from the earliest pioneers of the tradition to today’s young composers.

Alongside works by internationally renowned composers Arvo Pärt and Alfred Schnittke, the album introduces several contemporary Slavic composers whose music remains relatively little known in Finland. Among them is Ukrainian composer Tatjana Yashvili (born 1980), whose work Ylistäkää Herraa taivaista (Praise the Lord from the Heavens) was written especially for this recording by SOKK.

The Song of the Cello

Sellon laulu (The Song of the Cello) is the concluding album in cellist Hannu Kiiski’s solo recording trilogy. The two earlier albums, Lento Cantabile and Canto Meditativo, have explored landscapes of silence, presence and musical contemplation. Sellon laulu continues the story with a voice rich in memory and meaning, rising towards clarity and light like spring bursting into full bloom.

Lauteilla

The "Lauteilla" EP is a tribute to Finnish sauna culture! Featuring five sauna-inspired compositions, Lauteilla celebrates the heart, soul and healing power of the Finnish sauna. Listening to the choir, you can almost feel the warmth of a traditional smoke sauna and imagine yourself sitting on the sauna benches beside a lake, with Väinämöinen himself by your side. Three of the five works on the EP were commissioned by Cantinovum.

Tretti Karar

TRETTI KARAR is the representative choir of the Finnish-Swedish Male Voice Choir Association, dedicated to sharing the joy and passion of male-voice choral singing with power and feeling. The choir’s repertoire spans a wide range of genres and styles, and it is now releasing songs from its 30 Karat project as singles.

Solace

Solace, a solo piano album by Risto-Matti Marin, one of Finland’s leading pianists, offers an enchanting world of sound and musical meditation. Bringing together celebrated masterpieces by Sibelius and Brahms with exquisitely beautiful new works by Matthew Whittall, the album creates a deeply moving listening experience that soothes the soul and delights the ear.

Öinen näky

Cellist Seeli Toivio’s latest album features previously unrecorded Finnish works for cello and orchestra, shedding new light on the history of cello playing in Finland. Most of the works date from the 1930s to the 1950s and are fine examples of the Finnish national style of the period, with all its distinctive elegance and sophistication.

The album also features a remarkable musical rediscovery: Yrjö Gunaropulos’s Cello Concerto from 1938. The score was destroyed in a fire at the composer’s home in 1954, but the solo cello part was later recovered, making it possible to reconstruct the work with a newly composed orchestral accompaniment.

Canto Meditativo

This album invites you into a musical world where every note carries a sense of joy, depth, peace and comfort. The pieces are woven together through encounters, stories and musical journeys, creating an atmosphere all their own. Like poems, they capture meaningful messages and emotions in small, intimate moments.

Each of these pieces holds a special personal significance for cellist Hannu Kiiski. The compositions carry stories that take on new shapes with every performance, like living narratives that continue to evolve. The booklet accompanying the album offers glimpses into these stories, opening a window into the world behind the music and adding another dimension to the listening experience.

Songs

Helsinki-based composer and music writer Christian Holmqvist has been composing art songs for nearly three decades. The wide range of languages in his songs – including Finnish, Swedish, English, German, Spanish and Italian – reflects his extensive literary interests. This album features the world premiere recordings of works written specifically for the musicians performing on it.

The texts are drawn from poets and writers such as Edith Södergran, William Shakespeare, Henry Parland and Michelangelo. The music explores a rich emotional landscape, ranging from dark, expressive intensity to irony and nostalgia.

Lento yli auringon

Olli-Pekka Tuomisalo holds a Doctor of Music degree in saxophone performance and has long been a passionate advocate for contemporary music. Throughout his career, he has collaborated with countless composers, and around 100 works for saxophone have been dedicated to him.

His exceptionally diverse musical background has naturally led him to explore composition himself. Since the beginning of the 2020s, Tuomisalo has composed several works inspired by his fellow musicians and friends. His music draws on a wide range of influences, from contemporary classical music and jazz to funk, metal, popular music and musical theatre, blending them into a distinctive, deeply personal and sincere musical language.

SpaceTaxi variations

This album is a coming-of-age story, steeped in the smell of a hockey locker room, tracing my journey from the suburbs of Tikkurila into the world of music. It probably would have been safer to release an album of classical or contemporary French horn music, BUT...

Over the course of my career, I've played on around 150 albums. They've always been orchestral recordings or someone else's projects. Finally, the time came to take a risk and create something entirely my own. And I dare say you've never heard a French horn album quite like this one.