Mauricio Veliz Cartagena asks:

>And Rautavaara's Violin Concerto? Any thoughts about it?

Like most of Rautavaara's work since about 1970, the violin concerto
inhabits the emotional world of late Sibelius (Tapiola, 6th symphony)
and a rather conservative harmonic world close to that of Roy Harris.
This idiom sounds very similar from one piece to the next---in the violin
concerto, I swear there are passages that sound as if they come right out
of his Cantus Arcticus.  But, if you like this sound, as I do, it is
wonderful.

When Rautavaara was in his 20s, and writing music in the 12-tone idiom,
Sibelius, then in his 80s, sponsored the young man for a music fellowship
in the USA.  If this was something like Sibelius passing on his mantle,
the old chap was evidently gifted with X-ray vision.

Jon Gallant         ([log in to unmask])