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Cover: Soile Isokoski – Scene d'amore

Soile Isokoski

Scene d'amore

Soile Isokoski, soprano
Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
Mikko Franck, conductor

ODE 1126-2 · CD · August 2008

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"Is there a more beautiful soprano voice in opera today?" - The Sunday Times (U.K.)

Track listing

8 tracks · 56:25

Listen to samples on selected tracks.

Peter Tchaikovsky

  1. 1 Puskay pogibnu ya (Tatyana), from: Eugene Onegin 12:41

Georges Bizet

  1. 2 Je dis, que rien ne m'épouvante (Micaëla), from: Carmen 5:37

Charles Gounod

  1. 3 Je voudrais bien savoir... Ah! Je ris de me voir si belle (Marguerite), from: Faust 6:23
  2. 4 O Dieu, que de bijoux (Marguerite), from: Faust 4:44

Giacomo Puccini

  1. 5 Sì. Mi chiamano Mimì (Mimì), from: La Bohème 5:05
  2. 6 Tu che di gel sei cinta (Liù), from: Turandot 2:39

Giuseppe Verdi

  1. 7 Come in quest' ora bruna (Amelia), from: Simon Boccanegra 5:49
  2. 8 Emilia, te ne prego... Piangea cantando... Ave Maria (Desdemona), from: Otello 13:27

About this recording

This disc features the great lyric soprano Soile Isokoski with popular love scenes and arias from 19th-century Italian, French and Russian operas marking her greatest successes on stage. Included are the famous aria "Sì. Mi chiamano Mimì" from Puccini's La Bohème, with which Soile Isokoski gave her opera début in 1989, as well as Marguerite's aria "Il était un Roi de Thulé" and 'Jewel Song' from Gounod's Faust and the famous 'Letter scene' from Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, which she sung at the Finnish National Opera, in 2006, to international acclaim.

Audiences and critics hail the Finnish soprano as one of the finest singers in the world. Soile Isokoski's recent orchestral albums on Ondine (Sibelius's Luonnotar and orchestral songs, ODE 1080-5; Mozart Arias, ODE 1043-2; R. Strauss's Four Last Songs and other orchestral songs, ODE 982-2) have been praised as top-choice recordings and earned the highest distinctions such as the BBC Music Magazine Disc of the Year 2007 Award, a 2007 MIDEM Classical Award, and a 2002 Gramophone Award.

Soile Isokoski is accompanied on this disc by the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of young star conductor Mikko Franck.

Features

Booklet with liner notes in English, Finnish, German and French and the sung texts in the original language and in English

Press

Isokoski's lyric soprano is like liquid gold.
David L. Kirk, Fanfare Magazine, March/April 2009

What a treat it is to hear a soprano who is absolutely flawless in her scrupulous attention to the music (...) Conductor Mikko Franck and the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra offer sumptuous accompaniments, and what a pleasure to hear a recital in which the soprano does not sound as if she is producing more volume than is the orchestra.
Joel Kasow, Fanfare Magazine, March/April 2009

Mit einer beeindruckenden Atemtechnik, glanzvoll und unangestrengt wirkender Höhe und einem Legato, wie man es sonst nicht mehr oft zu hören bekommt, singt sich die Isokoski in unser Herz.
Rémy Franck, Pizzicato, December 2008, Supersonic Award

Vor allem (Ave Maria aus Verdis 'Otello') fesselt durch Isokoskis beseelte Gestaltung und aufblühende Töne (...), die besser oder schöner gesungen schwer vorstellbar sind. (...) ein Pflichtkauf.
Andreas Schubert, klassik.com, November 21, 2008, Empfehlung*****

Isokoski's gorgeous voice is backed up by a true musical and dramatic intelligence. (In Tatyana's Letter Scene) her tone projects a fragile vulnerability and she remains finely attuned to dynamic gradations throughout, lending more weight to the ever-growing emotional intensity in the climax.
Eric Myers, Opera Magazine, October 2008

One of the finest vocal instruments of the moment, the exquisite soprano of Finland's Soile Isokoski roams amorously through the core repertoire in this outstanding anthology of solo arias.
Anthony Holden, The Observer, October 5, 2008

One of the most satisfying recitals of its kind.
Michael Kennedy, The Sunday Telegraph, September 21, 2008

Voice-fanciers have long been lamenting that true legato is a dying art. With Isokoski around, it is not dead yet.
Richard Wigmore, The Daily Telegraph, September 20, 2008, Classical CD of the Week

Is there a more beautiful soprano voice in opera today? Listening to her rapt, long-breathed phrasing of Come, in quest'ora bruna, from Boccanegra, and Desdemona's Willow Song and Ave Maria, it's hard to think of one.
Hugh Canning, The Sunday Times, September 14, 2008

One can only admire Isokoski's sincere and humble approach to art (...) Her silver-voiced soprano now shines in all its glory.
Risto Nordell, YLE Radio 1, September 11, 2008

A remarkable achievement, underpinned with consistently excellent musicianship. (...) One listens with renewed attention, surprised by the wealth of possibilities (Soile Isokoski) discovers.
George Hall, BBC Music Magazine, September 2008, Opera Choice of the Month

The artists

Soile Isokoski

Soile Isokoski is recognized as one of the world's finest lyric sopranos. After graduating from the Sibelius Academy, she gave her début recital in Helsinki in 1986 and subsequently won a number of important international singing competitions. She made her début at the Finnish National Opera as Mimì in Puccini's La Bohème and has since delighted audiences and critics alike at opera houses in Vienna, Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, London, Milan and Paris, at The Metropolitan Opera and at music festivals in Salzburg, Savonlinna, Edinburgh and Orange.

Full biography

Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra

The Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, the first professional symphony orchestra to be founded in the Nordic countries (1882), has grown from a band of 36 players to an orchestra of 102 regular members.

Full biography

Mikko Franck

Mikko Franck began to play the violin at the age of five and entered Helsinki's Sibelius Academy in 1992, subsequently studying in New York, Israel and Sweden.

Full biography

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