Couple a clear, strong, and expressive voice with tastefully chosen, wide-ranging repertoire and what do you get? This disc preserving a lieder recital performed by Finnish soprano Soile Isokoski with pianist Marita Viitasalo recorded in London's Wigmore Hall in June 2006. Isokoski is a wonder: she has warmth enough, color enough, brains enough, and soul enough to make every song here -- even the seemingly anomalous "Summertime" -- sound like it could never be sung any other way. And that she can carry this off in such ...
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Couple a clear, strong, and expressive voice with tastefully chosen, wide-ranging repertoire and what do you get? This disc preserving a lieder recital performed by Finnish soprano Soile Isokoski with pianist Marita Viitasalo recorded in London's Wigmore Hall in June 2006. Isokoski is a wonder: she has warmth enough, color enough, brains enough, and soul enough to make every song here -- even the seemingly anomalous "Summertime" -- sound like it could never be sung any other way. And that she can carry this off in such diverse repertoire is particularly wonderful. Yet it's true: Isokoski sounds as comfortable here with the Austrian Berg and the American Gershwin as she does with the Finnish Sibelius and Merikanto, moving from Berg's opulent agony to Merikanto's sentimental intimacy with complete ease and fluency. One might express some regrets concerning pianist Viitasalo's technique -- while she is unfailing in her support of Isokoski, she does drop and blow notes at some terribly exposed moments --...
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Add this copy of Songs By Sibelius Berg & Strauss to cart. $6.19, very good condition, Sold by Wonder Book - Member ABAA/ILAB rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Frederick, MD, UNITED STATES, published 2006 by Wigmore Hall.
