Track listing
17 tracks · 53:31Listen to samples on selected tracks.
Leevi Madetoja
- 1 Arkihuolesi kaikki heitä (Cast Off Thy Everyday Cares) 2:14
Pekka Juhani Hannikainen
- 2 Joulun kellot (Hiljaa, hiljaa helkkyellen) (Softly, Softly Ringing) 3:14
Heino Kaski
- 3 Mökit nukkuu lumiset (The Snowbound Cabins Sleep) 4:27
Erland von Koch
- 4 Vinterpastoral 6:13
Selim Palmgren
- 5 Ja neitsyt pikku poijuttansa (The Virgin Rocks Her Baby Boy) 1:36
Max Reger
- 6 Mariä Wiegenlied (Maria's Lullaby) 2:13
Erkki Melartin
- 7 Lapin joulu 3:08
Sulho Ranta
- 8 Kehtolaulu Lapista 1:29
Johann Sebastian Bach
- 9 Nun komm' der Heiden Heiland 4:57
Jean Sibelius
- 10 En etsi valtaa, loistoa (We Ask for Nothing Rich or Rare), Op. 1 3:10
Oskar Merikanto
- 11 Lasten joulu 3:03
Lauri Ikonen
- 12 Pikku Veikon joulurukous 2:02
Bertold Hummel
- 13 Scherzando (Weichnachtliche Suite) 3:22
Leevi Madetoja
- 14 Tähtitaivas 2:50
Adolphe Adam
- 15 Oi jouluyö (O, Holy Night) 4:17
Taneli Kuusisto
- 16 Oi saavu, rauhan juhla 2:50
Ahti Sonninen
- 17 Rauhaa, vain rauhaa ( Peace, Perfect Peace) 2:26
About this recording
Soile Isokoski is one of the most celebrated performers worldwide at illustrious venues such as the Vienna State Opera, Covent Garden in London, La Scala in Milan and the Metropolitan in New York. Although she is best known for major opera roles, oratorio soloist performances and Lied recitals, she has always also enjoyed performing homely, intimate Christmas songs. Her soaring, lovely voice feels utterly at home with this music, and the soulful intensity she brings to them is the same that she displays in the greatest and most demanding works in her repertoire.
Isokoski is joined on this recording by conductor John Storgårds and the Lapland Chamber Orchestra, one of the most original members of the Finnish orchestral family. The history of the orchestra and Storgårds's career are inextricably linked: although the orchestra was founded back in 1972, it did not really hit its stride until Storgårds became its artistic director in 1996. Although he has had engagements with other orchestras in the meantime and appeared as a guest conductor all over the world, he has remained loyal to his own northern orchestra. The collaboration has resulted in award-winning innovation and a broad stylistic range resulting from and resulting in exploration far beyond the core repertoire.
Features
Sleeve notes in Finnish and English, lyrics in Finnish.
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.