The inspiration for this work is Bruno Munari's paintings, displayed at Museo del Novecento in Milan and characterised by swirling lines enveloping torn-out music scores, suggested the mysterious atmosphere of this piece and the subheading Un telegramma...

Julvers, a poem written by Pekka Suhonen at the Villa Lante in Rome on Christmas Eve 1992, inspired Kai Nieminen to compose a piece of the same name describing the city's myriad lights as seen from the windows of the Villa high on its hill...

Having spent his early years living in the southern part of Finland, when he was 9, Kai Niemiminen's family then moved to Ylitornio which is in the western part of Lapland, not very far from the Arctic Circle...

“The quartet was created out of the need to describe childhood memories and in distinction to polar nights. The conception of time is present in both of them. Mental pictures turning to the past and the stillness of polar nights in the darkness of which...

Kai Nieminen's music has been described as "often constructed according to a narrative logic, as fantasy journeys in imaginary or dream-like worlds". Most of his works have an extra-musical stimulus, alluded to in their titles...

Kai Nieminen's music has been described as "often constructed according to a narrative logic, as fantasy journeys in imaginary or dream-like worlds". Most of his works have an extra-musical stimulus, alluded to in their titles...

Songs to texts by Hannele Huovi. English translation included.

The Clarinet Concerto immerses the listener in the dream-like world of Nieminen's music. From the very first bars the soloist is like a snake-charmer hypnotising all around. Klarinettikonsertossaan Kai Nieminen upottaa kuulijan musiikillisten tarinoidensa unenomaiseen maailmaan...