After abandoning work on a second violin concerto in 2012, prolific Finnish composer Kalevi Aho did not return to the project until he was contacted by violinist Elina Vähälä. Aho, aware of the weight of tradition and keen to avoid the pitfalls of violinistic clichés, nevertheless wrote a virtuosic work dominated by the soloist, who is given many opportunities to realize her own interpretive ideas. The orchestral part was composed especially for the Kymi Sinfonietta with its sound in mind. With his second cello concerto, Aho also wanted to write a piece that orchestras the size of a Sinfonietta could include in their program. Here, too, the solo movement is particularly well suited to the instrument. The youngest winner of the 2015 International Tchaikovsky Competition, cellist Jonathan Roozeman, tackles the work in five movements played without interruption, delivering a cadenza in the final section that is as unusual as it is clever. The Kymi Sinfonietta is conducted here by Olari Elts, a master of contemporary Baltic composers.