This release is an important milestone in the collaboration between the Finnish composer and pianist Olli Mustonen and the Norwegian string quartet Engegård Quartet.

The recording includes Mustonen’s String Quartet No. 1, commissioned and premiered by the Engegård Quartet, and a slightly earlier work, the Piano Quintet. This is the first recording of both of these works.

Olli Mustonen is one of the Nordic countries’ most sought after musicians, as pianist, conductor and composer. His compositions are performed worldwide. While the Engegård Quartet has commissioned several works from Norwegian composers, the String Quartet No 1 is their first international commission.Olli describes many of his works as a journey from darkness towards light, and these two pieces are no exception. We feel that Olli’s compositions are deeply spiritual while they have an almost ritualistic magnetism. This raw irresistibility is made even more powerful by the tight structural forms Olli masters in his compositions.

The movement titles speak volumes; it’s like reading recipe books – one’s mouth waters just reading them. The String Quartet No 1 opens with “Impetuoso, con passione e molto rubato (quasi senza tempo)”. The second movement is a driven “Furioso e pesante”, before the spiritual heart of the work, “Grave – estatico e misterioso”. The Finale opens with a strong reference to the first movement before a romping “Con fuoco all’Ungharese” which Olli correctly describes as being full of ecstasy and instrumental joy.

The Piano Quintet consists of three movements. The first movement is filled with drama and passion. Its’ atmosphere is reminiscent of Mustonen’s Second Symphony Johannes Angelos – a work that has been inspired by a historical novel set in turbulent times during the last months of the Byzantine Empire. The second movement is a set of polyphonic variations in a form reminiscent of a passacaglia. The third and final movement opens in a mysterious, almost non-coherent way, before a hymnlike transition to fast-moving triplets lead to a joyful and ecstatic conclusion.