Aulis Sallinen
The Red Line - Opera in Two Acts
Jorma Hynninen, topi · Päivi Nisula, riika · Finnish National Opera Chorus · Finnish National Opera Orchestra · Mikko Franck, conductor
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Aulis Sallinen
King Lear
Opera in Two Acts · DVD video
Matti Salminen
Lilli Paasikivi, Taina Piira, Satu Vihavainen, Jorma Hynninen, Sauli Tiilikainen, Jorma Silvasti, Aki alamikkotervo, Hannu Forsberg
Track listing
13 tracks · 322:42Listen to samples on selected tracks.
Aulis Sallinen
- King Lear, Opera in Two Acts, Op. 76 164
- 1 ACT I 84:18
- 2 Prologue: The Fools's Song 4:31
- 3 Scene 1, Lear's Palace 26:59
- 4 Scene 2, Gloucester's Castle 18:44
- 5 Scene 3, Forest 3:02
- 6 Scene 4, Cornwall's Castle 31:54
- 7 ACT II 76:37
- 8 Scene 5, Gloucester's Castle 5:19
- 9 Scene 6, Forest 12:43
- 10 Scene 7, Albany's Castle 8:05
- 11 Scene 8, Forest 13:40
- 12 Scene 9, The British camp near Dover 11:12
- 13 Scene 10, The British camp 25:38
About this recording
One of the internationally most well-known Finnish composers, Aulis Sallinen (b. 1935) celebrates his 80th birthday in 2015. As a tribute, Ondine is releasing the 2002 production of his most latest opera, King Lear with the same cast that premiered the work at the Finnish National Opera in 2000.
King Lear's premiere was a great success with a strong cast of singers under the direction of Okko Kamu. The title role of King Lear is sung by the legendary bass Matti Salminen. Other singing roles include Lilli Paasikivi, Taina Piira, Satu Vihavainen, Petri Lindroos, Kai Pitkänen, Jorma Hynninen, Sauli Tiilikainen and Jorma Silvasti.
The libretto of the opera is based on the world-famous tragedy by William Shakespeare which tells the tragic story of the English king Lear, who struggles with both members of his own family and his enemies, as well as with his developing madness.
Features
Menu languagues: English, Finnish
Picture format: NTSC colour 16:9
Region code: 0
Sound Format: PCM stereo
Subtitles: English, Finnish
Press
Remarkable (...) and hugely recommended.
Mike Ashman, Gramophone, July 2015
The artists
Matti Salminen
Matti Salminen is one of the leading basses of our time. Born in Turku (Finland) in 1945, he was educated in his home town, at the Sibelius Academy Helsinki, as well as in Italy and Germany. From 1972-1980 he was engaged at the Cologne opera. In 1972 he appeared for the first time as a guest in Zurich as Sarastro. Following his Gremin with Götz Friedrich and Gerd Albrecht at the beginning of Drese's era, Matti Salminen regularly returns to Zurich as a guest and has been an ensemble member since 1984-85. Matti Salminen appeared regularly at the Bayreuth Festival from 1976-1988 and at the Savonlinna Festival from 1967-1998. Apart from that, he is a guest at all important opera houses all over the world. In 2000, he sang the title role of Aulis Sallinen's opera Lear in Helsinki and in 2003 sang the title part in Rasputin by Einojuhani Rautavaara. In 2005, Matti Salminen was Gurnemanz in a new Parsifal staging by Harry Kupfer. Further engagements include Parsifal and Tristan in Vienna, Fidelio, Parsifal, Don Carlo and Die Meistersinger at the Bavarian State Opera Munich, Fidelio in Helsinki and Valencia as well as Don Carlo in Zurich and Vienna.
Lilli Paasikivi
Lilli Paasikivi notable performances have included: Schoenberg's Gurrelieder with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra under Jukka-Pekka Saraste; Wagner's Wesendonk-Lieder with Janos Furst; Mahler's Des Knaben Wunderhorn and also Gurrelieder with Los Angeles Philharmonic under Esa-Pekka Salonen; the world premiere of Shchedrin's The Enchanted Wanderer with New York Philharmonic under Lorin Maazel; Prokofiev's Alexander Nevsky and On Guard for Peace with the Philharmonia under Vladimir Ashkenazy; Zemlinsky's Maeterlinck Lieder with Münchner Philharmoniker under Susanna Mälkki; Mahler's Kindertotenlieder with Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks under Mariss Jansons; and Elgar's The Dream of Gerontious with Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under Ashkenzay. Last season she made her concert débuts with Cincinnati Symphony and London Symphony Orchestra both under the baton of Paavo Järvi, New World Symphony under Michael Tilson Thomas and Berlin Philharmonic under Sir Simon Rattle. As principal soloist at Finnish National Opera, roles have included Carmen, Angelina (La cenerentola), Cordelia in Sallinen's King Lear, Dorabella (Cosiì fan tutte), Marguerite (La damnation de Faust), Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Marchesa Melibea in Dario Fo's production of Il viaggio a Reims; Varvara (Katya Kabanova), Aleksandra Fjodorovna in Rautavaara's Rasputin and Octavian (Der Rosenkavalier). Elsewhere she made her début at the Châtelet in the role of The Pilgrim in Saariaho's opera L'amour de loin, sang the role of Jitsuko Honda in the world premiere of Toshio Hosokawa's Hanjo at Festival d'Art Lyrique d'Aix-en-Provence, made her house and role débuts at Opéra de Lyon as The Composer (Ariadne auf Naxos) and returned to Aix to sing Fricka in Das Rheingold.
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