RIP, Rautavaara

Einojuhani Rautavaara died on July 27. Although not as much of a household name as Jean Sibelius, Rautavaara has been called the greatest Finnish composer since his more famous predecessor. Some more traditional classical fans might have been turned off by his earlier twelve-tone experimentation, but his later works were more of a neo-Romantic style with mystical overtones.

To give you a little taste of his works, I've included a piano piece titled Passionale (I'll have to ask Scott Drayco if he's played this one), followed by the short choral piece Credo, and finally the fourth movement from what many consider to be his best-known work, the Symphony No. 7, "Angel of Light."

 

 

And the Winners Are ...

There's been a lot of news lately from a variety of annual crime fiction awards, but what if those awards only happened every four years? That's what you face in the world of piano competitions, including the Van Cliburn and the just-completed Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. Since I have a piano background and the crime consultant in my Scott Drayco series is also pianist, it's been fun to watch snippets of the live-streaming from the competition. The Gold Medal was given yesterday to 27-year-old Russian Dmitry Masleev, with Lithuanian Lukas Geniušas and American 19-year-old George Li awarded Silver Medals. You'll be hearing a lot more from all of these talented artists.

Here's a snippet from one of wunderkind George Li's first-round performances: