in Reviews

The virtuoso pianist's choice

by Anna Pulkkis

"Pianist Risto-Matti Marin has formed a meaningful musical whole out of five works, all recorded for the first time, by four contemporary composers living in Finland."

It is always exciting to encounter a recording that includes a selection of works by different composers, hand-picked by the performer(s). Pianist Risto-Matti Marin has formed a meaningful musical whole out of five works, all recorded for the first time, by four contemporary composers living in Finland. As Marin points out, the works draw from a variety of traditions. However, they also share certain characteristics, such as repetitive textures that feature in Kanggul vellam (The flood of night, 2015) by Eero Hämeenniemi (b. 1951) and truly permeate The Wine-dark Sea V (2013) by Matthew Whittall (b. 1975). 

Marin's interpretation of Hämeenniemi's Le Trastevere Variazioni (2002), inspired by Frescobaldi, is delicate. His qualities as a fearless virtuoso become most apparent in Juho Miettinen's (b. 1978) Piano Sonata No. 1 ("Sixth Sense", 2009/2014) and Matei Gheorghiu's (b. 1984) Piano Sonata No. 3 (2016). Gheorghiu's Sonata impresses with its rough beauty that also echoes the musical tradition of his native Romania.

Sixth Sense – Finnish contemporary music for piano
Risto-Matti Marin (piano)
Alba ABCD 423