SKU: FG.55011-554-5

ISBN 9790550115545.

Harri Wessman (b. 1949) is interested in all aspects of music that may be expressive, without in any way ignoring the possibilities of melody. He himself describes his harmonic method as a kind of contrapuntally treated jazz harmony. During recent years pedagogic music has become a more and more central area in his output with an emphasis on creating repertoire for budding musicians, from beginners to young professionals. I don't write children's music. Stylistically I write in the same way as for professionals; technically, the pieces just have to be easier to play. Concertino No. 2 for piano and chamber orchestra was commissioned by a Finnish press house Yhtyneet Kuvalehdet Oy for the inauguration of their new office building in 1987. According to the original plan the concertino was to be used in an advertising film of the company. A melody with wide arch which can be heard in the midpoint of the piece, first played by the orchestra and then repeated with the piano, was intended to be the theme song of the film. The 10 minutes duration and small orchestra (flute, oboe, clarinet and strings) makes this one movement piece suitable also for young orchestra players.

SKU: BT.MUSTH978431

English.

The Banks of Green Willow begins in pastorale mode with the title tune established in the Strings with solo clarinet. The work builds to quite a passionate climax before re-establishing the pastorale mood of the opening. Thesong on which the story is based has a tragic death at its centre, which is reflected in the score.English composer and folksong collector George Butterworth, who lived at the turn of the last century and lost his life in theFirst World War, is known for his settings of selections of A E Housman’s A Shropshire Lad and for an Orchestral rhapsody he composed on the same theme. As a Recorder of folksongs, he was successful in noting more thanthreehundred, mainly from Sussex. One of them, The Banks of Green Willow, is the basis for the idyll for Orchestra that has been adapted here for Piano.