Pictured within: Birthday variations for M.C.B. ; Jaakko Kuusisto - Symphony, Op. 39 (2023)

This disc is a double tribute. The first work, "Pictured Within", is a collective effort conceived as a major project to mark the 60th birthday of conductor Martyn Brabbins, whose reputation in new music and British music is beyond reproach. Following the pattern of Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations, "Pictured Within" is a series of 14 variations on a theme, each of which takes up the character of the equivalent variation in Elgar’s work, the difference being that here 14 different composers have each contributed a variation in tribute to Brabbins. This performance of Jaakko Kuusisto’s Symphony is released as tribute to the composer, conductor and violinist who passed away on 2022. Illness left Jaakko no time to complete his work, so it fell to his brother Pekka – who conducts here – and Jari Eskola to finish it. The result is a powerful piece, full of familiar themes and melodies derived from Jaakko’s existing compositions, to which are added autobiographical extra-musical elements. (...)" (chandos.net)