BRASSTIME

Conductor: Tuomas Pirilä
Soloist: Jukka Harju, horn
Giuseppe Verdi: Overture to ‘Aida’ (Kouvola)
Gioachino Rossini: Overture to ‘The Barber of Seville’
Richard Strauss: Horn concerto no. 2 in E flat
Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony no. 7

Brass take the limelight in this cheerful, foot-tapping concert of items ranging from operatic tunes to symphonic elation that is part of the Kymi Brass event in Kouvola. Jukka Harju, a leading name in Finnish French horn circles, admirably demonstrates the brilliance and singing quality of the instrument in the spirited second horn concerto composed by Richard Strauss late in life. Nor is there any lack of energy flow in the closing work on the programme, Beethoven’s seventh symphony, each movement of which is a feast of life and light.