With the title A Five-Star Sibelius Celebration, the Ondine label is not providing a critical estimation of the quality of the disc. Rather, it indicates that five different soloists are performing five sets of works by the great Finnish modernist. Whether or not those soloists are in fact stars is left up to the listener.The best-known name here is undoubtedly Karita Mattila's. The clarion soprano has appeared in opera houses around the world, and her set of six songs accompanied by pianist Ilmo Ranta are as strongly sung ...
Read More
With the title A Five-Star Sibelius Celebration, the Ondine label is not providing a critical estimation of the quality of the disc. Rather, it indicates that five different soloists are performing five sets of works by the great Finnish modernist. Whether or not those soloists are in fact stars is left up to the listener.The best-known name here is undoubtedly Karita Mattila's. The clarion soprano has appeared in opera houses around the world, and her set of six songs accompanied by pianist Ilmo Ranta are as strongly sung and powerfully characterized as her Jenufa and Salome. Perhaps the next-best-known name is Monica Groop's. The warm-toned mezzo-soprano has endeared herself to international listeners with her many excellent lieder recordings, and for them, her group of Ariel's five songs excerpted from the music for The Tempest with the Opera Festival Chorus and Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Jukka-Pekka Saraste, while wonderfully sung, may be regarded as too little of a good thing. Some...
Read Less
