Sibelius Piano Trio Fire & Fancy 180g 45rpm LP

Executive producers: Ann and Bill Harmsen

As their Latin GRAMMY® and International Classical Music Award nominations for this album demonstrate, the gentlemen of Sibelius Piano Trio feel at home in any musical style. When they play Nene, written for them by Argentine composer Diego Schissi, you hear Latin musicians offering you South American sunlight and Argentine dance rhythms. Nene celebrates the daydreams and fantasy world of a young boy. When Sibelius Piano Trio performs Ruminations by David S. Lefkowitz, the Trio conjures the mystical fire of Persian poetry. One can hear musical instruments including the oud, nose flute and Eastern European Klezmer in David’s rhapsodic work inspired by the great 13th Century Persian poet and Sufi mystic Jalal ad-Din Mohammad Rumi.

"Ruminations and Nene were audience favorites at Segerstrom Center for the Arts, where the Trio gave their premieres. As a proud Finn and as a representative of the Finnish government, I salute Sibelius Piano Trio for their talent. Petteri, Juho and Samuli embody and exemplify the best of our country, and as someone who lives in Los Angeles, it gives me great pleasure that the Trio is so intimately connected with California and Yarlung Records." - J.P. Markkanen, Consul General of Finland

I think it would be easy and safe for The Sibelius Trio and Yarlung to release yet another recording of Beethoven, Schubert, Dvorak, etc. Instead, they have shown their commitment not just to producing artistically fine and sonically marvelous recordings, but also to promoting the vitality of this art form in the 21st century, not only performing new music, but commissioning its very creation, and on that they must be commended! In the same way it's necessary to expand and push forward the repertoire we play in the concert hall, it's necessary to expand our horizons as classical record buyers. I make this sound like some imposing feat, when this music is incredibly tuneful and approachable and nothing like the 'challenging' music some contemporary audiences were subjected to in the 1950s and 60s. But because there is not some storied household-name composer on the title, some may pass this record by, and I think that would be a shame. Give Fire and Fancy a try, and the music may wow you (the sonics are guaranteed to). This is for sure going in the 'demo disc' pile!