Composer Magnus Lindberg (b. 1958) is one of the leading names in today’s contemporary music. This album by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra together with its chief conductor Hannu Lintu includes three works by the composer, including Aura, one of the most prominent monumental orchestral works of our era.

Aura – in memoriam Witold Lutosławski represents a grand synthesis of Magnus Lindberg’s output in the 1990s. The work was written in 1993–1994 to a commission from Suntory Limited in Japan and was premiered by the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra under Kazufumi Yamashita at Suntory Hall in Tokyo in June 1994. Clocking in at 40 minutes, Aura is Lindberg’s most extensive orchestral work. Although not a symphony, this 4-movement work is closely linked to the symphonic concept represented by Lutosławski. Lindberg heard of Lutosławski’s death while writing the work and decided to dedicate it to his memory.

Although primarily known for his large orchestral works, Lindberg’s chamber works are by no means minor works. Related Rocks for two pianos, two percussionists and electronics was written in 1997 to a commission from IRCAM in Paris for the Belgian group Ictus. The choice of ensemble inevitably prompts an association with Bartók’s Sonata for two pianos and percussion. However, Related Rocks is very different in conception from Bartók’s Sonata and also includes electronics.

The title of Lindberg’s Marea (1989–90) easily associates its music with the sea. However, the composer gave the title when the work had largely already acquired its final shape. While completing the work in Normandy, on the English Channel, the composer realised that the tide was an apt metaphor for his new work. Marea emerges as a sumptuous breathing motion implying strength under the surface, the mobility in the low register contrasting with a static texture in the upper register. This layering persists later in the work as well. The texture thins at times and is given an Impressionist shimmer by the piano, but in places the music coalesces into a spectral blaze of colour.

Conductor Hannu Lintu was recently nominated for a GRAMMY for his recording of Lutosławski’s Symphonies Nos. 2 & 3 (ODE 1332-5) with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra in the category of best orchestral album. The previous year, an album of new works by Kaija Saariaho (ODE 1309-2) also received a GRAMMY nomination. In 2019, Hannu Lintu and the Finnish RSO also won the Gramophone Award and ICMA Award for the recording of Bartók’s Violin Concertos (ODE 1317-2) together with Christian Tetzlaff. The same recording was also nominated for the 2019 BBC Music Magazine Awards. Recordings by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Hannu Lintu on Ondine have gathered numerous excellent reviews in the international press. Two of their recordings were nominated for Gramophone Awards in 2018. One of them, including orchestral works and songs by Jean Sibelius (ODE 1289-5) also won an ICMA Award in January 2018.