Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra

“Sauli Zinoviev’s piano concerto should have been premiered almost two years ago, just after the pandemic struck and it would have been unsustainable to postpone the premiere once again. Although of course it would have been festive with an enthusiastically applauding audience after the euphoric finale … Ólafsson mastered to perfection all of Zinoviev’s stylistic excursions, from the introductory figurations and the second movement’s impressionistically churning chords to the final’s neoclassical rhythm, where the solo part towards the end unashamedly gives in to a Liszt-Rachmaninov virtuosity. All done with the same equally playful ease and deep-rooted concentration.

Hufvudstadsbladet,  Mats Liljeroos, 10 January 2022

“Klaus Mäkelä is known for the delicate precision with which he extracts all the details and nuances of the works he directs. There really were enough of them in Zinoviev’s concerto and he built a stunning, sparkling and crackling overall shape.”

“The lonely atmosphere of the empty hall fitted to Sibelius’s Fourth Symphony. Mäkelä seemed to conjure up the themes of the symphony as if out of some obscurity and silence … The whole symphony was a dark play of mysterious metamorphoses. Thanks to Mäkelä’s skilful directing, the often fragmentary course of the symphony seemed fatally inevitable.”

Helsingin Sanomat, Hannu Ilari Lampila, 8 January 2022

Programme:
Sauli Zinovjev: Piano Concerto, world premiere performance
Jean Sibelius: Symphony No. 4
Soloist: Víkingur Ólafsson