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Holding a mirror up to the past can be burdensome. But it can also be a revelation. Both applied to trumpeter Verneri Pohjola as he took the bull by the horns last year and interpreted his father’s music at the Viapori Jazz Festival and at the Tampere Jazz Happening. No mean feat, as Pekka Pohjola (1952—2008) remains one of the revered icons of the 1970s European prog rock scene. The stakes were high but Verneri pulled the concerts off with flying colours.

Since 2005, Black Motor has been a proudly local Tampere institution, making its own idiosyncratic way apart from the orthodox Helsinki scene.

"Rather than focusing exclusively on musical skills, Finnish music education aims to consider students holistically as human beings, from their very first steps. (-) Music education is not about the subject; it is about the people," writes Petri Aarnio in his column.

Finns never fail to point out that the kantele is Finland’s national instrument. In our national epic, the Kalevala, Väinämöinen the wizard builds the first kantele from the jaw bone of a pike and charms all the people and the animals of the forest. But there are kantele-like instruments elsewhere too, and it is only recently that they have begun to be studied more thoroughly.

The distinguished Meta4 string quartet's second volume of Saariaho's chamber music was released in 2016. At the heart of this album are two larger works: ...de la Terre (1991) for violin and electronics and Terra Memoria (2006) for string quartet.

Pehr Henrik Nordgren’s music often has a ritual, pictorial quality that generates a powerfully disturbing sense of atmosphere, of foreboding, as this album perfectly illustrates.

Marin’s performance points up the intricate voice-leading and ensures that everything is heard, lucid and emotionally vivid. Indeed, emotional flow might be described as the scarlet thread of this entire album.

This double album is the issue of three concerts given in Minnesota in February 2016, and Olli Kortekangas’ Migrations was a commission for that occasion. Migrations must have caused many in its initial audiences to reflect upon their own origins, and it retains its ability to touch the heart in this recording.

Not an easy listening disc by any means, but a magical compilation that grows on you with repeated listening, not least because of the superb performance given by Trio Aristos.