Finnish piano star Olli Mustonen is back and it feels just like home

Finnish pianist Olli Mustonen’s latest tour here has all the feelings of a homecoming.

Finnish pianist-composer Olli Mustonen performing with members of the Australian Chamber Orchestra in the ACO's Schubert’s Trout tour. Picture: Julian Kingma

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Finnish pianist, composer and conductor Olli Mustonen is no stranger to Australia, having performed here on at least 10 tours over the past three decades.

So when he made his latest appearance with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, playing three works including his own stunning piano quintet, the feeling was almost that of a homecoming, especially as two of the musicians on stage, violinist Satu Vanska and cellist Timo-Veikko Valve, are his compatriots.

The program culminated in an electrifying performance of the most popular chamber music work ever written, Franz Schubert’s Trout Quintet, but this was the glorious icing on a very rich and substantial cake.

The concert opened with an all too rarely heard delight in Frenchman Darius Milhaud’s ballet suite La creation du monde, its weighty opening depicting three African gods creating nature and humanity giving way to an irresistible jazz-tinged fugue and three more short movements invoking the spirit of Gershwin and the Harlem jazz players of the 1920s.

Mustonen’s crackling energy and musical pizzazz were evident from the opening bars while Vanska, second violinist Liisa Pallandi, violist Stefanie Farrands and “Tipi” Valve gelled beautifully behind the pianist’s extravagant gestures and precise, sometimes quirky, playing style.

Olli Mustonen and Australian Chamber Orchestra principal bass Maxime Bibeau. Picture: Julian Kingma

All hell was let loose in the next piece, Mustonen’s quintet written in 2015 in which you can hear hints of his mentor, the eminent Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara and even a little interlude reminiscent of the great Jean Sibelius.

There’s an ominous pulse of bass chords underpinning much of the work as it moves from a passionate and dramatic opening movement, through a weighty but thrilling passacaglia section to its joyful, frenzied conclusion.

This work, which he has recently recorded, brought spontaneous cheers from the audience as it made its explosive way to the closing gesture, setting up the perfect atmosphere for the Schubert work after the interval.

Maxime Bibeau joined the group on bass for this evergreen work with its sparkling piano passages, sunny and occasionally stormy strings and lilting basslines.

Mustonen led from the Steinway with animated nods and conductor’s hand gestures in what was a spectacular performance featuring some tight and finely nuanced ensemble work.

The concert is repeated at 7pm at City Recital Hall on Wednesday, September 21, and Saturday, September 24, and at 2pm at Sydney Opera House Concert Hall on Sunday, September 25.

DETAILS

• CONCERT ACO Schubert’s Trout

• WHERE City Recital Hall

• WHEN Tuesday, September 20