by Bob Tarte
Maria Kalaniemi pushes the five-row, free-bass accordion into unchartered realms of expressiveness on these intimate but animated excursions into folk, jazz, chamber music, pop and the inevitable tango. Fellow members of the Sibelius Academy's folk music department join in on guitars, piano, harmonium, violins, kantele and other instruments in cut after cut of perfect pieces of northern music whose expressive detachment warms the room like dying fireplace embers. The real payoff comes in graceful arrangements of traditional Finnish songs, such as "Slingerdansin" and "Sofias Flykt," where guitarist Olli Yaris matches Kalaniemi's proficiency.