Pöntinen's solo record debut was a recital of Russian piano music on the BIS Records label in 1984. He has since made over 50 records as soloist, accompanist and with orchestra.
Selected list of compositions
The following list is based on information from the composer's web site.[4]
The Girl from Brazil (1981)
Camera per trombone e pianoforte (1981) also version for jazz-group
Blue Winter for trombone and strings (1987)
A performance of this piece on February 3, 1998, given by the Philadelphia Orchestra in Carnegie Hall, New York, was reviewed by Bernard Holland in the New York Times:[5]
"A newer piece was Roland Pontinen's Blue Winter for trombone and orchestra. Mr. Pontinen takes an unlikely solo instrument deadly seriously as an agent for rich, flexible lyrical writing. Blue Winter is a kind of elegy in one movement. The trombone part, played here with skill and sincerity by Nitzan Haroz, is made to sing against slow-moving chordal sheets of string sound. The effect is both icy and mournful; the acid harmonies keep sentimentality at bay."
Tango Plus for clarinet, violin, cello and piano (1993)