Chamber Music III (Sallinen)

The Chamber Music III, The Nocturnal Dances of Don Juanquixote (sometimes Juanquijote or Juan Quixote; in Finnish: Kamarimusiikki III, Don Juanquijoten yölliset tanssit), Op. 58, is a concertante composition for cello and string orchestra by the Finnish composer Aulis Sallinen, who wrote the piece from 1985–86 on commission of the Naantali Music Festival. The piece was first performed by cellist Arto Noras (the dedicatee) on 15 June 1986 in Naantali, Finland, with Vladimir Ashkenazy conducting the English Chamber Orchestra. The pseudo-literary title—a compound of iconic, fictional characters Don Juan (the libertine and seducer) and Don Quixote (the bumbling knight-errant)—recalls, but does not quote, the Op. 20 and Op. 35 tone poems of Richard Strauss, respectively. The piece is the most popular and recorded of Sallinen's series of nine (as of 2018) Chamber Musics.

Chamber Music III
The Nocturnal Dances of Don Juanquixote
by Aulis Sallinen
Opus58
Composed1985 (1985)–86
DurationApprox. 20 minutes
Movements1
Premiere
Date15 June 1986 (1986-06-15)
LocationNaantali Church, Naantali, Finland
ConductorVladimir Ashkenazy
PerformersArto Noras (cello soloist),
English Chamber Orchestra

Instrumentation

According to the publisher, Novello & Co, Chamber Music III is scored for the following (Note: numbers are minimums):

Recordings

To date, four cellists have recorded Chamber Music III across six recordings. Arto Noras, the dedicatee, accounts for half of these performances, including the piece's premiere recording, which is from 1988 with Okko Kamu conducting the Finlandia Sinfonietta on the Finlandia label; as well as its most recent, in 2014, for Ondine's complete recording of the Sallinen Chamber Musics. A notable detractor of Nocturnal Dances, however, is the American Record Guide's Tom Lehman, who terms the piece a "monstrosity" in his review of the Turovsky recording: "This 20-minute string of disjointed, pretentious, saprophagous, smirking postmodern allusions and distortions (of 'pop' cliches as well as 'classical' music)," he continues, "Is simply awful. Horrendous. Hideous. Ghastly."[1]


Conductor Orchestra Cellist Year Recording venue Duration Label (Available on)
Okko Kamu Finlandia Sinfonietta Arto Noras 1988 Järvenpää Hall (Järvenpää) 19:10 Finlandia (370)
Osmo Vänskä Tapiola Sinfonietta Torleif Thedéen 1992 Tapiola Hall (Espoo) 20:21 BIS (560)
Okko Kamu Finnish Chamber Orchestra Mats Rondin 1995 Tapiola Hall (Espoo) 19:25 Naxos (8.553747)
Yuli Turovsky I Musici de Montréal Yuli Turovsky 2001 Church of La Nativité de la Sainte-Vierge (La Prairie) 20:01 Chandos (9973)
Ralf Gothóni Virtuosi di Kuhmo Arto Noras 2005 Järvenpää Hall (Järvenpää) 20:06 cpo (777147-2)
Ville Matvejeff Sinfonia Finlandia Jyväskylä Arto Noras 2014 Hannikaissali (Jyväskylä) 19:30 Ondine (1256-20)

Notes, references, and sources

References
  1. Lehman (2002), p. 199

Sources

Books

  • Korhonen, Kimmo (2007). Inventing Finnish Music: Contemporary Composers from Medieval to Modern. Finnish Music Information Center (FIMIC). ISBN 978-952-5076-61-5.

CD liner notes

  • Hermans, Ralf (1996). Sallinen: Complete Works for String Orchestra (booklet). Okko Kamu & Finnish Chamber Orchestra. Germany: Naxos. p. 2–4. 8.553747.
  • Kaipainen, Jouni (2015). Aulis Sallinen: Chamber Music I–VIII (booklet). Ville Matvejeff & Sinfonia Finlandia Jyväskylä. Germany: Ondine. p. 4–12. ODE1256-2D.

Journal articles

  • De Jong, Diederik (1997). "Sallinen: Some Aspects of Hintrik's Funeral March; Chamber Music I+II+III; Sunrise Serenade". The American Record Guide. 60 (4): 162–63. (subscription required)
  • Gimbell, Allen (2015). "SALLINEN: Chamber Music 1-8; Sunrise Serenade". The American Record Guide. 78 (6): 144. (subscription required)
  • Lehman, Mark (2002). "The Modern Cello: Nocturnal Dances of Don Juan Quixote". The American Record Guide. 65 (5): 199. (subscription required)
  • Scott, Phillip (2009). "Classical Recordings—Sallinen". Fanfare. 32 (5): 227–29. (subscription required)
  • Wierzbicki, James (1990). "Recordings in Review: Sallinen". Musical America. 110 (6): 84–85. (subscription required)
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