Jyväskylä Sinfonia levytti keväällä 2021 Mikkelin Mikaelissa Per Henrik Nordgrenin erittäin harvakseltaan esitettyä musiikkia. Levyllä kuultavat kolme teosta – Streams, Sellokonsertton nro 5 sekä Kamarisinfonia – on kirjoitettu hieman erilaisille kamariorkesterikokoonpanoille, ja ne tarjoavat siten edustavan näköalan Nordgrenin soivaan ajatteluun yhdistäen niin pientä kuin suurta mittakaavaa. Levytyksen johti Jyväskylä Sinfonian ylikapellimestarina toiminut Ville Matvejeff ja sellokonserton tulkitsi Tuomas Ylinen. Levyn kannessa komeilee jyväskyläläisen kuvataiteilija Jaakko Valon teos Valkoisen valta I. Valo ja Nordgren tutustuivat aikoinaan Kaustisilla.

The international success of Faust after its premiere in 1859 completely overshadowed all of Gounod’s subsequent operas. He had known Goethe’s masterpiece for two decades and brought to the text his gifts for memorable melody and rich orchestration. Added to this, the plot of Faust’s ageing and the heroine Marguerite’s redemption, offered the opportunity for the most spectacular stage effects. Heard here in its 1864 London version with an additional air and without spoken dialogue or ballet, Faust represents 19th-century French opera at its peak.

This album by the Jyväskylä Sinfonia conducted by Ville Matvejeff presents three works by Éric Tanguy (b. 1968), one of the leading composers in contemporary French music with two outstanding soloists, clarinetist Pierre Génisson and violinist Júlia Pusker.

Pekka Kostiainen founder and leader of the Musica Choir, graduated from the Sibelius Academy in 1968 specializing in church music, and got his composition diploma in 1973. Pekka has worked as cantor-organist for Finnish congregation of Pohja and as a musicology teacher in the University of Jyväskylä.