MI by Ensemble Gamut!
Out now by
Alba records
Ensemble Gamut! has quickly emerged as one of Finland’s most interesting ensembles that move fluidly between genres. Led by Aino Peltomaa, they have created their unique sound by combining elements of medieval music, Finnish folk songs, improvisation, original compositions and electronic soundscapes.
The name MI refers to the Arctic flower Micranthes stellaris, and to Peltomaa’s composition Mieli meni (“And so the Mind Went”). MI is also the third note of the Gamut scale (ut, re, mi).
The theme of the album is Arctic endangered flowers and the mental states that sprout from them. In addition to the flower-themed compositions by the powerful medieval women Hildegard von Bingen and Birgitta Birgersdotter, Aino Peltomaa’s compositions and lyrics bring together the intangible and tangible eras of our living environment, our home. Lost, rediscovered. Destroyed, vanished, rescued.
On this album Peltomaa and Ensemble Gamut! have invited two guests: sound artist Tuomas Norvio and visual artist Vappu Rossi. Through their contributions we get to enjoy new possibilites of live electronics on this release. Norvio manipulates the sounds of Vappu Rossi’s drawing in real time, merging melodies and drawings inspired by Arctic flowers into a soundscape where the planes of time, the living, the dead, history, the present moment, the past and the future all resonate simultaneously.
Robert Majewski / W Kulturalny Sposóby 6/.2025
"The characteristic of Ensemble Gamut’s class is their unique sound. The result is a kind of artistic mysticism, combining the timeless relevance of Hildegard von Bingen’s work with contemporary art in the broadest sense. Aino’s singing blends perfectly with the instruments and added electronic sounds. The final effect is as fascinating as it is coherent. The story of Gamut! begins its journey in the darkness of the Middle Ages and takes us to a sonic universe beyond time and space."
Els van Swol / 8weekly 6/.2025
"All in all, a beautiful, conceptual CD built up to a climax (Stabat mater dolorosa), on which Ensemble Gamut! shows more and more courage in terms of performance practice in comparison with the two previously released titles."
Marja Mustakallio / Kulttuuritoimitus 6/2025
"Aino Peltomaa, the driving force behind Ensemble Gamut!, takes a stand for nature on the MI album. The themes include, among others, the endangered Arctic flowers. Peltomaa’s texts and songs blend at times with the hymns of Hildegard of Bingen, at other times with other medieval pieces and folk poems. Many times I find myself completely at a loss as to where one ends and the other begins, as Peltomaa and Hildegard are so seamlessly one."
Komorebi
by Peltomaa Fraanje Perkola, released by
Outhere Music / Fuga libera
ELEMENTS OF MEDIEVAL MUSIC, ELECTRONICS AND JAZZ CREATE A WONDROUS AND MEDITATIVE SOUND WORLD ON ‘KOMOREBI’
Following their debut album ÆR on Fuga Libera in 2021, Trio Peltomaa Fraanje Perkola announces their second album. Komorebi is scheduled for release on May 26th by Outhere Music. The project is a post-classical exploration of themes of fragility and loss, mixing elements of medieval and electronic music and jazz to create a wondrous and meditative sound world.
Trio Peltomaa Fraanje Perkola combines the sounds of the human voice, piano and viola da gamba with electronic effects and medieval harp. The players have diverse backgrounds in early music, jazz, Finnish folk music and contemporary music, although it was medieval music that was the inspiration for their highly personal and recognisable sound.
Komorebi is an untranslatable Japanese word best described as “sunlight shining through tree leaves, capturing the interplay between light and leaves”. This trio composed of one Dutch and two Finnish musicians explores the fragility of nature and death, the fleeting nature of light seen through leaves, the poetry and vividness of nature as well as the loss of natural habitats.
The texts are original poetry from singer Aino Peltomaa, as well as precocious Finnish poet Saima Harmaja (1913–1937), Hildegard von Bingen (1098–1179), and from the Cantus Sororum (Songs of the Sisters), a collection of medieval Bridgettine chants. The trio is fascinated by how time is perceived and how these beautiful medieval melodies and texts speak to us now.
Bart Debbaut / Hageland klassiek
"It is rare that an album offers such an enchanting journey as Komorebi by Trio Peltomaa Fraanje Perkola. With an unmistakable combination of classical minimalist music intertwined with influences from medieval music and Finnish poetry, this ensemble creates a sonic experience that transports you to another world."
Paweł Szczepanik/ Radio Krakow
"A series of sensations, creating a boundary between oneness, between the world and the metaphysics. And this is the album of the album of the trio. Easily digestible, full of emotions and peace."-
Helena Gaudeus / Klassiek centraal
"As if the music embraces you, shielded from the hyperactive outside world, you relax." "Trio Peltomaa Fraanje Perkola brings a musical translation of the sunlight caressing the leaves."
Pentti Ronkanen / Suomijazz
"...the trio has its own unique sound, its own musical world and it succeeds to draw an unbelievably long line of the tradition of Western classical music and the heritage of improvisation together and into its own music.”
RE by Ensemble Gamut!, released by Eclipse Music!
The title RE, being second note of the musical scale (Gamut), also refers to remaking, rearranging, reposting, recreating, renewing, re-entering, returning and retuning ourselves to the past and the future, ever so present in every moment. History repeats itself in all sorts of ways, and the topical themes addressed on RE include colonisation, the conquest of new territories by a superpower, Finland’s geopolitical position between East and West, and wars between religions.
Chris Wheatley / Songlines 3/2023
"From rough-spun elemental numbers to exquisitely beautiful voice-and-harp, the range and depth here is compelling. The early literary sources that hark back to an ancient time may be obscure, yet the sense of enduring human truths and emotions is clear. RE refers to a note of the medieval music scale, but in this talented trio’s hands, it also stands for renewing and returning – two things that Ensemble Gamut! do exceedingly well. This is an assured sophomore album from a talented trio."
– João Lisboa / Expresso 3/.2023
Not since Hedningarna and Värttinä have the Northern Lights shone so brightly.
Jez Rowden/The Progressive aspect 1/2023
"There is nothing purer than the voice of Aino Peltomaa over a pipe drone. It’s as traditional and heartfelt as you can get and drills down into the intense humanity of these largely ancient works, as reinterpreted by the members of Finland’s Ensemble Gamut!.”
Kare Eskola / YLE
"--the recognizable style of Ensemble Gamut, in which effective pop aesthetics blend with medieval vibes and ethno minimalism."
Aodren Pecnard /djolo
"Scandinavian folk, flute, sounds, hypnotic... an experience not to be missed"
Els Van Swool / 8weekly
"Anyone who enjoys medieval music with a modern twist, folk music, church music or minimalistic music, instrumental or vocal music, will have a lot of fun with this second album ."
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ÆR out by Outhere Music!
The Guardian
"ÆR (Fuga Libera | Outhere Music) is an album by Peltomaa Fraanje Perkola, an unorthodox Dutch/Finnish trio for voice, piano and viola da gamba, which takes medieval hymns and transforms them into quizzical, drone-based experimental miniatures.”
Linda Holt / Fanfare (USA)
"As the scholar Evelyn Underhill wrote more than a century ago, the mystical experience is not the occult, not an escape from reality; it is reality itself, all that is left when artifice is stripped away. ... This album touches on that essence as expressed in music, and I can think of few other examples so well done in our time."
Kare Eskola (Yle, Finnish broadcasting company )
"Rarely is medieval music combined with modern improvisation with such style" / "The album touches the soul with slow and gentle movement and irresistible power"
Nicolas Blanmont "Album of the week" by Musiq3 radio channel
"Deux Finlandais – Aino Peltomaa (voix, harpe médiévale, cloches) et Mikko Perkola (viole de gambe, effets et électronique) – et un Néerlandais – Harmen Fraanje Music (piano à queue et piano droit préparé) – ont imaginé ce programme atypique puisant tantôt chez Hildegard von Bingen et Perotin, tantôt dans le Codex Las Huelgas du XIVe siècle ou les Piae Cantiones du XVIe et parfois même dans leur propre imaginaire compositionnel. Le résultat est tout aussi délicieusement imprévisible qu’indescriptible."
UT oUT by Eclipse Music!
”Ut is one of the most interesting sounding albums I’ve heard in a long time” … ”This one came straight out of nowhere and immediately captured my heart. More exceptional beauty from Scandinavia, it’s Finland this time where Ensemble Gamut! offer breathtaking reinterpretations of Finish folk and early music with a modern sheen.”
- Jez Rowden - The Progressive Aspect, Best progressive albums of 2020
Nominated for best classical music albums by YLE 2021 - The Finnish national broadcasting company
"Early Music Achievement of the Year 2020"
"The debut album UT is characterized by natural and relaxed musicianship. [--] Peltomaa has a sheer and beautiful soprano voice, good rhythm and fine, precise ornaments. [--] The repertoire includes medieval and renaissance music from continental Europe and Finnish folk music as a counterweight. The combination fits perfectly well and several of the musicians have experience of both genres."
- Tove Djupsjöbacka, hbl.fi 2.12.2020