Sibelius, Jean - A Five-star Sibelius celebration
Half a century after the death of Jean Sibelius, the dominant icon of Finnish classical music, Ondine is celebrating the Sibelius year 2007 with the release of this 'best of' compilation, featuring popular works in praised performances by the very best Finnish artists.
"A living dream of pianism, having broken through an expressive barrier that other players do not know exists", Olli Mustonen has established himself as one of the most respected and exciting pianists of our time. His interpretation of Sibelius's miniature gems for piano (tracks 1-10) was praised by Pianist Magazine as "real magic".
Recognized as one of today's most exciting lyric dramatic sopranos, Karita Mattila is one of the most radiant personalities in the classical world and Ondine's best-selling artist. At the peak of her career in 1995, the "body-and-soul Diva" recorded six of Sibelius's most intimately striking songs (11-16) with "a supreme combination of vocal beauty, technique, interpretative skills and raw passion" (Classical Voice).
"Maybe be the best thing to happen to classical music in years" (The Guardian, January 16, 2007), young violin star Pekka Kuusisto recorded two serenades (17, 18) with the chamber orchestra Tapiola Sinfonietta in 2006, a fresh recording that earned top accolades internationally, including '10/10' on ClassicsToday.com.
Always in demand from many of the world's leading opera houses and orchestras, mezzo-soprano Monica Groop has become particularly respected for her unique interpretation of Scandinavian music. She convincingly demonstrates this here in her delivery of five songs taken from the incidental music for Shakespeare's The Tempest (19-23).
Baritone Jorma Hynninen is one of the most celebrated Finnish singers and is venerated as the ultimate authority when it comes to performing Finnish repertoire such as in the seven songs contained on this disc (24-30).
Karita Mattila, soprano; Monica Groop, mezzo-soprano;
Jorma Hynninen, baritone;
Pekka Kuusisto, violin;
Olli Mustonen, piano; Ilmo Ranta, piano
Opera Festival Chorus; Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra; Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra/Jukka-Pekka Saraste;
Leif Segerstam