Heavenly Lights (Mustonen / Kodály)

For this fifth volume in the Lockenhaus Festival series, under the artistic direction of Nicolas Altstaedt, the cellist presents two works by the Finnish composer Olli Mustonen (born 1967, a student of Rautavaara), including Heavenly Lights (Taivaanvalot) for tenor, cello and piano, performed here by Ian Bostridge, Nicolas Altstaedt and the composer at the piano. The English tenor premiered the work in 2016 in its original chamber version, recorded here for the first time. Mustonen went on to create an orchestral version in 2020, but the original piece is nevertheless titled Symphony: “This work has been a revelation to me since I first encountered it. We dive into the legendary age of the minstrels, a mystical world whose stories touch all people, regardless of nationality,” says Altstaedt. “A closeness to folk tradition, just as Kodály sought and found”: his Sonata, Op. 4 (1909–1910), his Sonatina (1920), and the Sonata that Mustonen wrote in 2006—all for cello and piano—complete this exhilarating and spellbinding programme.