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Aho Symphonies on BIS/re John Quinn's review of No 17
Posted by Colin Mackie on June 15, 2026, 10:52 pm
I was delighted to see that a review of the Aho Symphony No.17 has (finally) appeared on Musicweb and I commend John Quinn for his detailed and perceptive comments. Can I just offer a couple of corrections? John is correct in noting that Symphonies Nos.16 and 18 have not yet made it to disc in BIS's amazingly comprehensive programme of recording Aho's splendid music. However he says that Symphony No.14 has not been recorded. In fact this symphony was issued by BIS in 2009 in a recording by the Chamber Orchestra of Lapland conducted by John Storgards. This is the only symphony recorded by the company which does not feature the Lahti Symphony Orchestra. Symphony No.12 is performed by both the Lahti SO and the Chamber Orchestra of Lapland, also conducted by John Storgards. Osmo Vanska does indeed conduct the Lahti orchestra in all the other recorded symphonies with the exceptions of Nos. 5 and 15 each of which is conducted by Dima Slobodeniouk and of course the latest recorded Symphony, No.17. It is worth noting that BIS have never recorded the much earlier Symphony No.6. Admirers of Aho's music- of whom I am one-cannot but admire in awe the commitment of the label to this bewilderingly prolific but extremely fine contemporary composer!
Re: Aho Symphonies on BIS/re John Quinn's review of No 17
Thank you, Colin. Despite searching online - thoroughly, as I thought - I missed the 14th symphony and also that No 6 has not been recorded by BIS. I'll amend the review
