Bold Worlds

Returning to the NZSO after his 2010 Soundscape concert series virtuosic percussionist Colin Currie has been described as ‘a miracle of cool-headed brilliance’ and in this concert he puts  his skills to good use in one of the most exciting works of contemporary times.

Currie himself approached the Finnish composer Kalevi Aho to request a percussion concerto, and the new work, Sieidi, had its world premiere in April 2012 at the Royal Festival Hall in London with Finnish maestro Osmo Vänskä (who also conducts this NZSO performance) and the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

This engagingly fresh concerto is framed by two other modern masterpieces.  Arvo Pärt’s stunning Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten was composed in the wake of Britten’s passing and is a startlingly beautiful tribute to the British composer. Carl Nielsen’s Fifth Symphony is a study of contrasts, and signals his mastery of the symphonic form. (Source NZSO)

Recorded in Wellington’s Michael Fowler Centre by Radio New Zealand