“The young cellist Senja Rummukainen interpreted her part from the first entrance with great commitment, a rich tone with a fast vibrato. The secondary theme in D major sounded beautifully and really “sweetly” in her performance. The “hunting” motif of the ascending trios in the three corners of the forest always sounded in an exemplary interplay. The overall sound of the orchestra supported the soloist as much as possible. The cellist also handled all the technical pitfalls of her part without intonation problems, for example in the form of thirds, sixths and octaves before the beginning of the final theme. The first movement culminated in a beautiful tutti orchestral sound at the very end. Adagio ma non troppo, where again all the well-composed melodies in the wind instruments sounded beautifully, the quasi cadenza in the solo part came out nicely, when the soloist was not afraid to engage in really weak dynamics. Overall the concerto sounded very convincing. Temperamental Senja Rummukainen rewarded the long-applauding audience with a solo version of the song Bird Song by Pablo Casals.”
klasikaplus.cz 14.10.2023
“Elgar’s Cello Concerto (1919) needs no introduction – and a period of rest, so often does it appear. However, Senja Rummukainen came to the score unencumbered to give an impassioned yet thoughtful and intimate account, accompanied insightfully, tactfully and personably. Rummukainen’s sensitivity and, when required, dexterity were impressive – slow tempos unindulged, fast ones unshowy and articulate – with Sakari Oramo (he’s recorded Elgar’s two Symphonies in Stockholm for BIS) ensuring that there is more to this music than it being an “elegy for an era”.
colinscolum.com 4.3.2022
Anna Clyne: Dance Tapiola Sinfonietta & Jukka-Pekka Saraste
”The piece, which is easy for the listener, is demanding for the soloist, but Senja Rummukainen executed everything excellently. The collaboration with Tapiola Sinfonietta and Saraste was really good and the balance was ideal for my seat.”
Helsingin Sanomat 17.2.2023
Beethovens Triple Concerto
“The drummer’s lively and expressive playing sent the piece flying – the cello theme is particularly virtuosic in the concerto because it moves in such a high register. Above all, the interpretation assured that it was shared by three people. Everyone’s personality was allowed to come out in their own way, but they played together, commenting on each other. The boundaries disappeared and the triple concerto became more than a concerto; it was chamber music of three people, both natural and original in its use of time, a vision that breathed together and was searched for together, which was also joined by the gracefully playing orchestra, not only as an accompaniment but as a part of the whole.”
Helsingin Sanomat/Sonja Saarikoski 19.2.2022
”The highlight of the evening was still Senja Rummukainen’s sensationally fine performance of Shostakovich’s first cello concerto. Rarely do you hear such an emotional matter in the expression – which, however, never sounded the slightest exaggerated or forcibly suppressed – in combination with such exquisitely mastered sound and intonation care.“
“The intensity was total, but still constantly under control, and since even the purity was consistently admirable, it can not be helped that a young Rostropovich sometimes fell in love with one.“
“Get to see how long Rummukainen is content with the second cellist podium in the orchestra ranks. Both the technical level and the interpretive will point towards an international soloist career – if she is willing to invest everything on that card, of course. Still the playing in general? First-class, with Mika Paajanen’s delicious horn solo as the golden edge of it all, and the performance could de facto have been put directly on the jar.”
Huvudstadsbladet/Mats Liljeroos 8.5.2021
”Cellist Senja Rummukainen excelled as a soloist with the Helsinki Philharmonic.”
”The Friday concert of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra went so quickly from one atmosphere to another that the listener did not occasionally stay with it. The reason was especially Shostakovich’s first cello concerto and soloist Senja Rummukainen, whose playing extended so deeply and widely that one had to make an effort to be able to throw oneself into the mystery of the moment in Henri Dutilleux’s orchestral work Mystère de l’Instant.”
”The musicians seemed apparently pleased to have their own second principal cellist Senja Rummukainen as their soloist at Shostakovich’s first cello concerto.”
”There was a tremendous force in the Rummukainen’s playing, which the orchestra nicely supported. From the beginning, the basic blocks of life were present, a contradiction that someone or something forces you to look back, even though you should already be moving forward. Such a twist, described as a struggle between friction and escape, is, in my opinion, at the heart of the concert and conveyed by Rummukainen. The listener understood that it is nothing less than a struggle for life. That’s pretty much one performance.
Although certain passages in the Moderato part of the concerto can be thought of as periods of backwater, the tension will not be interrupted at any point. Throughout the concert, the listener is forced to wonder – with the kind help of the horn of the soloist as the alter ego – whether the horror in the wigs of the mind is about the breakdown of the psyche or the terror of the system. How is it possible to go on with life? The concert offers many answers to that, one of which is: you have to know how to laugh.
If I had to tell anyone what it means to “live through,” I would urge you to listen to Rummukainen’s and HKO’s presentation.”
Helsingin Sanomat/Sonja Saarikoski 8.5.2021
“On Thursday evening, she surprised with the Scottish pianist Steven Osborne in the Cello Sonata op. 61 by Benjamin Britten. <…> Unbelievable power and intensity. How well-matched the pianist and cellist turned out to be, and how much they seemed to constantly challenge each other.”
Brabant Cultural
“Senja Rummukainen is a fantastic cellist.”
Göteborgs-Posten, Magnus Haglund
“Senja Rummukainen presented her playing skills and the wide range of expression of her beautifully-sounding Stefano Scarambella cello in the turns of Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations. In the first parts of the work, which opened loudly and clearly, the solo part was characterized by lightness and springiness. As the playing progressed, joyful playfulness could be heard, which deepened into expressive melodic lines and tight legatos.”
Gikka Holmberg, Kulttuuritoimitus