TUOMO TIRRONEN

• MS1214 Sample

"The care with which [Tirronen] has assembled these pieces, his sense of timing, and his devoted advocacy create an intriguing experience for the listener. These are thoughtful, pensive compositions...communicative and evocative...Tirronen plays with dedication, precision, and sympathy. His performances are dignified, detailed, and allow everything to sound with maximum impact. Recommended to those with a taste for exploration."

Fanfare - November / December 2007

"In this fine debut [Tirronen] doesn't tackle so much as finesse his way around a disc's worth of contemporary guitar repertoire...[On this album] Tirronen has assembled an arc that seamlessly flows from one composition to the next in the quietist swash of notes...Tirronen lets beauty have its natural way while fully engaged in the language of modern music. What emerges is neither neo-romantic or New Age but a serious and profound program that asks the listener to contemplate with almost reverent stillness on the being of sound and the soundness of being."

American Record Guide - September / October 2007

For this disc - Anfangs ("beginning") - I selected contemporary pieces that are close to me, and that are part of my concert repertoire. As a performer, I play this music not necessarily because it is "art", but rather to stay connected with what is happening in today’s music world. I cannot ignore the music of our time just because it may not be "beautiful" or easy to understand. This new music represents the ideas and values of our time. These recordings are a very personal affair, as I believe most recordings are. There is so much more behind this music than just what the composers intended. Beyond the music, there is the "where and when was it performed?" and "who performed it?" For me, this is the "Anfangs" - the beginning of the music. These works form a dramatic arc in my mind. For me, they are connected and are presented as such on this record.

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Finnish guitarist Tuomo Topias Tirronen started playing guitar at the age of eight, studying with Karri Elo. He studied classical guitar in Finland at the Turku Music Conservatory under Marianne Gardberg, and then in Turku Music Academy until graduating in 2002 as a "music pedagogue". Tirronen also studied in Sweden at the Malmö Musikhögskola with Göran Söllscher and Gunnar Spjuth, and later attended Musikhochschule Lucerne in Switzerland where in 2006 he received the highest marks from Frank Bungartens. Tirronen, who has a keen interest in playing Renaissance lute and Persian lute among other stringed instruments, has given concerts in Germany, Italy, Sweden and Switzerland and actively in his native Finland. An active chamber musician, Mr. Tirronen performs in the flute and guitar duo Duo Arkipelag with flutist Visa Turunen, in the guitar duo Tirronen & Buck with Christian Buck, and in the German alternative music group Melkbook with Alex Goretzki and Christian Buck. Tirronen also performs with Topias Tiheäsalo in T&T2, a chamber group focused on free improvisation. He has given the premiere performances of Antti Haapalainen's Kivettynyt Metsä for solo guitar and Satakieli for flute and guitar, as well as Aki Lappalainen´s Suite for Guitar and Elf for flute and guitar. Tuomo Tirronen has participated in master classes given by Eduardo Fernandez, Stephen Stubbs and Jorgen Bjorslev, and himself teaches at the Music Institute Arkipelag and at Vakka-Suomi Music Institute and has served as President of the Turku Guitar Society since 2003.

www.tuomotirronen.com

HARRI SUILAMO (b.1954)
ANFANGS

ANTTI HAAPALAINEN (B.1966)
MIKSI? (Why?)

TORU TAKEMITSU (1930-1996)
IN THE WOODS

LEO BROUWER (b.1939)
HIKA

MAURICE OHANA (1914-1992)
TIENTO

TOSHIO HOSOKAWA (b.1955)
SERENADE

THOMAS WILSON (1927-2001)
CANCION

MSR Classics