Richard Strauss: Three Hymns & Opera Arias Soile Isokoski

• 1 Ein Schönes war 05:51
• 2 Es gibt ein Reich 05:13
• 3 No. 1. Hymne an die Liebe 08:42
• 4 No. 2. Rückkehr in die Heimat 07:04
• 5 Die Liebe 06:28
• 6 Die Zeit, die ist ein sonderbar Ding 02:38
• 7 Da geht er hin 04:51
• 8 Andante con moto - Morgen mittag um elf! 19:59
• Total Runtime 01:00:46

Info for Richard Strauss: Three Hymns & Opera Arias

On this release of legendary Strauss-singer Soile Isokoski the rarely recorded Three Hymns are coupled with opera arias from Ariadne auf Naxos, Der Rosenkavalier and Capriccio. All these arias are part of Soile Isokoski's standard repertoire, she has performed them regularly at opera houses like Vienna State Opera, Covent Garden, Milan's La Scala, the Semperoper in Dresden, in Berlin, Paris and at prestigious festivals like Salzburg, Edinburgh, Orange and Savonlinna.

A multiple award-winner, Iskokoski's recording of Strauss's Four Last Songs won a Gramophone Award in 2002, in March this year it was the Winner in the blind test arranged by French magazine Classica.

Three Hymns is a major work, which so far has been surprisingly rarely recorded, no doubt partly because of the great vocal demand it poses to the soloist. Nonetheless they are atmospheric concert pieces with Strauss' orchestration in full bloom. They already anticipate the Four Last Songs and are waiting to be rediscovered.

„Soile Isokoski is an ideal interpreter of Richard Strauss's music. This satisfying if not electrifying recital combines poised performances of scenes from the operas ... with the rarely heard Three Hymns, written in 1921 in a style that is palpitating and creamily rapturous.“ (Rupert Christiansen, The Daily Telegraph)

„It's good to have a souvenir of her distinguished Marschallin and her Madeleine (...). With Kamu's Helsinki orchestra providing a lush underlay, Isokoski soars in the ecstatic Hölderlin settings.“ (The Sunday Times)

Soile Isokoski, soprano
Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
Okko Kamu, conductor

Recorded at Helsinki Music Centre, 17-18 and 20 April 2012

Soile Isokoski
is recognized as one of the world's finest lyric sopranos and regularly appears on the most renowned stages and concert halls. 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.

Soile Isokoski has worked with numerous distinguished conductors such as Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Seiji Ozawa, John Eliot Gardiner, Sir Colin Davis, Zubin Mehta, Daniel Barenboim, Sir Simon Rattle, Bernhard Haitink, Riccardo Muti, Claudio Abbado, Valery Gergiev and James Levine. Her recent opera roles include Die Marschallin (Der Rosenkavalier), Eva (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg), Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Alice (Falstaff), Margarethe (Faust), Rachel (La Juive), the Countess (Le nozze di Figaro), Desdemona (Otello), Liù (Turandot), Elsa (Lohengrin), Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte) and Ariadne (Ariadne auf Naxos). She has an extensive concert repertoire, and she regularly gives recitals with her permanent accompanist Marita Viitasalo.

Soile Isokoski's recording, for Ondine, of Luonnotar and other orchestral songs by Sibelius with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra under Leif Segerstam won the 2007 BBC Music Magazine Award ‘Disc of the Year', in addition to a MIDEM Classical Award (ODE 1080-5). Her rendition of Four Last Songs and other orchestral songs by Richard Strauss with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra under Marek Janowski received a Gramophone Award in 2002 (ODE 982-2). Her 2006 Christmas album Jouluyö, juhlayö, featuring also the YL Male Voice Choir, became a gold-winning best-seller in Finland (ODE 1088-2).

In honour of her notable contribution to Finnish music, Soile Isokoski was awarded with the Pro-Finlandia medal in 2002. In September 2008, she received in Vienna the honorary title of 'Österreichische Kammersängerin'.

This album contains no booklet.