Release Date: 01/01/05

Folk music has been inspiring 'serious' composers from time immemorial, but attitudes have varied from glowering and pat

Folk music has been inspiring 'serious' composers from time immemorial, but attitudes have varied from glowering and patronisingto inspired and uninhibited. The relationship has been warmest where the contacts have been closest. A fine example in this respect is the region of Western Finland known as Ostrobothnia, home of the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra and a thriving folk music culture. The Orchestra has commissioned a wealth of compositions drawing on folk tradition that make no attempt to curb the temperament and soul of the indigenous culture. For many years composer-in-residence of the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, Pehr Henrik Nordgren (b. 1944) has established a highly intimate relationship with the orchestra conducted by Juha Kangas and its Ostrobothnian heritage.