REVIEW:

Aarre Merikanto’s career divided broadly into three phases, those of apprentice, radical and conservative, and there are works from each present on this valuable new issue. Critical hindsight accords (quite rightly) that the brief radical phase, roughly corresponding to the 1920s, was the most valuable, though at the time Merikanto’s modernistic approach – and that of his like-minded contemporaries, Ernest Pingoud and Vaino Raito – was derided. Only one piece here represents this period, the highly accomplished tone-poem, Pan (1924), a wonderful, evocative, yet robust score, possessed of a very Nordic brand of impressionism. The playing of the Tampere orchestra is perhaps not quite as refined as the Finnish Radio Orchestra under Segerstam, but Ollila catches more of the dangerousness of the goat-footed deity.

Lemminkainen (1916), by contrast to Pan, seems immature, and rather parochial. A Sibelian shadow lies heavily across its quarter-hour duration, yet without a trace of the older composer’s own Lemminkainen tone-poems. There is little of the latter’s emotional and psychological depth – or musical range – but instead a prevailing rollicking good humour broken occasionally by quieter, more serious moments. The remaining works all date from the early stages of Merikanto’s post-modern period, when he reverted to a simpler, more accessible idiom. The Four Compositions (1932), which barely exceed Pan in length, nevertheless make a very effective and satisfying set, and whereas the Andante religioso (1933) seems like a piece out of context, the Scherzo (1937) is entirely convincing on its own. Taken together, these five works make a much more positive impression than did the rather uneven Pingoud works (Ondine, 2/98), especially in performances as sympathetic and well-recorded as these. Quietly recommended.

-- Gramophone [8/1998]

Latvian Radio Choir’s new album conducted by Sigvards Kļava marks the international debut of composer Alfred Momotenko (b. 1970). Momotenko was born in Lviv, Ukraine, in 1970. He studied at the Sochi College of Arts and later percussion at the Moscow State University of Culture and Art. In 1990, the political situation having changed, Momotenko moved to the Netherlands where he continued his studies at the Brabant Conservatory and at the Royal Conservatory in the Hague. Momotenko’s timeless choral works continue the centuries old great tradition of choral works combining them with contemporary language, a blend most recently exemplified by the likes of Alfred Schnittke.

Surrounded by choral music in his youth, Momotenko has returned to the world of choral music at a relatively late period: all the works on this album have been written between 2017 and 2022. Many of his enigmatic choral works are religious and could be described as poems or chants – larger than a miniature but less extensive than a fantasy, a narrative, a ballad or a story. Often there are two contrasting musical languages that are present: the ancient, pristine Znamennyj Chant and the modern one. Besides liturgic texts, Momotenko’s choral works include settings to poems by Boris Pasternak and Joseph Brodsky. The largest work, Na Strastnoy (On the Passion), is a companion piece Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil.

REVIEW:

The recital is cleverly structured. We start on familiar ground with Creator of Angels – a setting of lines from Bella Akhmadulina (distilled here into a shorter whole) that supplicate for mercy. Threads of Znamenny chant run through thick vertical textures, always rooted in widespaced bass parts. The effect is ancient, but softening into 21st-century lyricism. We hear flickers of Silvestrov, Tavener and E≈envalds, but also of Chesnokov, Grechaninov and their ilk.

Then we start to push off from land – gently at first in the short Three Sacred Hymns, with their modal harmonies and sinuous lines that always seem to tug back to the fixed point of unison, and then more rhapsodically in Lullaby: upper voices an endless flat horizon, harp ripples and sound-bursts silhouetted against them. We’re in another world by the time we reach On the Passion. This setting of Pasternak’s poetry from Dr Zhivago (this time intended as a companion for Rachmaninoff’s Vespers) is a trove of imagery. Birdsong, bells, Holy Week processions and folk dances draw a musical ‘essay’ from Momotenko that extends the composer’s harmonic and textural vocabulary with nonsense syllables and stamping – effects as well as melodies. Voices are fragmented down to endless solo strands (the technical challenge is immense), intersecting and coming together with Ives-like sonic cinema.

Kl,ava marshals his singers with unobtrusive precision. The 24-strong group are shape-shifters, slipping imperceptibly from chorus to soloists, from knitted web to filigree strands. Balance, not dynamics, is the principal expressive force here. Kl,ava pulls details and lines forwards or pushes them back flush, creating the depth and play of light that really makes this debut sing.

-- Gramophone

MOZART JUBILEUM - COLLECTION

Classical Music

The early death of award-winning pianist and conductor Lars Vogt on September 5, 2022 shocked profoundly the international music world. Some 16 months earlier, already aware of his diagnosis and in the middle of his treatment sessions, the artist had an urgent desire to record a Mozart piano concerto album together with the Orchestre de chambre de Paris. He believed that performing these fantastic works that he so much admired would also be the best medicine for his condition. For this Mozart album Lars Vogt coupled two concertos: the early, exuberant Piano Concerto No. 9, nicknamed ‘Jeunehomme’ and written by Mozart in his early 20s; together with the melancholic and nostalgic Piano Concerto No. 24, which is considered by many to be Mozart’s greatest piano concerto – a perfect closure to Vogt’s final concerto album.

REVIEWS:

The slow movements, deeply felt, inevitably emerge with extra poignancy, but elsewhere Vogt revels in Mozart’s playful wit. The album is a fitting memorial to Vogt’s musicianship, courage and humanity.

-- The Times of London

Vogt was particularly distinguished by his remarkable interpretations of Brahms which earned him numerous laudatory reviews. Former musical director of the Paris Chamber Orchestra, with whom he collaborated for the last time on this disc, he also assumed the role of professor at the prestigious Hochschule für Musik in Hanover. Despite being diagnosed with cancer in 2021, he decided to immerse himself in recording Mozart's Piano Concertos Nos. 9 and 24 with unwavering determination. This is reminiscent of the context in which the Requiem in D minor was written, which, according to some accounts, was composed in anticipation of the Austrian composer's own funeral.

As for Vogt, he unfortunately never had the opportunity to hear the finished disc. From his entrance [in Concerto no. 9], Lars Vogt uses a slightly shy sound, dictated by a delicate restraint, thus creating an intimate atmosphere conducive to the sonic development of the piece. A form of mutual respect between musicians and conductor emerges, at the same time creating a virtuous circle which, through the minutes that pass, gradually contributes to strengthening the emotional depth of the interpretation.

What follows is one of the most painful pages that Mozart has written, the opening of the second movement of this concerto. Tragically reflecting the condition in which Vogt found himself, the first chords in C minor resonate like a death knell, the darkest and most poignant moment of this record. Finally, after a clarification brought by the modulation in E flat major, this concerto closes with a rondo overflowing with hope.

The Piano Concerto No. 24, completed in 1786 in Vienna, is introduced by an orchestral overture lasting more than two minutes which, it should be noted, is performed masterfully by the Paris Chamber Orchestra. Directed by Vogt himself, together they succeed in perfectly capturing the overall dramatic color of this work, thereby creating the most favorable terrain for the musical development of the solo that follows. By breaking through the silence left by the orchestra, Vogt transports us, while reassuring us with his simple and charming playing. The second movement, for its part, does not seem to deviate from the very essence of this disc, namely unequaled finesse.

The soft moments are played like a caress on the keyboard, evoking emotions which unfold with a more than captivating sweetness. Each note seems to be enveloped in a veil of tenderness, creating a significant intimate atmosphere. Finally, this concerto closes with a lively allegretto in apotheosis which brings a final touch of vitality to the whole work. Despite his state of health, Lars Vogt leaves us with this record a testimony of perseverance and unwavering optimism. He succeeds with flying colors in captivating us in the space of an hour while ultimately retracing a life journey. A touching album to discover this September.

-- Crescendo

After a cycle of Beethoven Piano Concertos, solo albums of works by Bach and Schubert in addition to a number of award-winning recordings of piano chamber music on Ondine label, pianist Lars Vogt releases an album of Piano Sonatas by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791). In this album, two baroque-influenced and virtuosic early sonatas are coupled together with a touching A minor Sonata K. 310 - written at the time of the composer's mother's death - and a delightful, Haydnesque Sonata K. 333. Mozart wrote Piano Sonatas K. 280 and K. 281 (Nos. 2 & 3) most likely in 1774, at the age of 18. The elements of Baroque influence are clearly evident in the K. 280 Sonata. A prominent feature in the K. 281 Sonata is, besides it's virtuosity, the beautiful slow-movement, "Andante amoroso". The K. 310 Sonata (No. 8) was written four years later, during the summer of 1778, and is written in a minor key: a rarity among Mozart's Sonatas. The K. 333 was published in 1784, but the time of it's composition might have been earlier. This joyful work with virtuosic passages can be described almost as a Piano Concerto for the solo piano. Lars Vogt was appointed the first ever "Pianist in Residence" by the Berlin Philharmonic in 2003/04 and enjoys a high profile as a soloist and chamber musician. His debut solo recording on Ondine with Bach's Goldberg Variations was released in August 2015 and has been a major critical success.

Ondine is pleased to announce a long-term recording collaboration with German violinist Christian Tetzlaff, internationally recognized as one of the leading soloists of his generation. The selection of these sonatas for piano and violin by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart demonstrate distinctly the composer's ingeniousness and show a wide range and strong ambiguity of emotions.

Composing has always formed an integral part of the artistic life of pianist-conductor Olli Mustonen. Mustonen studied composition under the direction of Einojuhani Rautavaara since the age of 8. His first compositions mainly consisted of chamber works, but in the early 2010s, Mustonen has emerged as a symphonist. This album contains two of his most latest symphonies. Mustonen’s dramatic symphonies are firmly rooted and continuing the tradition of the great classical composers and seek inspiration from multiple sources. The theme of Mustonen’s 2nd Symphony, ‘Johannes Angelos’ (2013), is Byzantium and the ancient city of Constantinople with its mysticism. Mustonen’s 3rd Symphony (2020) is based on the Songs 47-49 in the Finnish national epic Kalevala. This work has been inspired by the cosmic and shamanistic elements in Finnish mythology. In this recording, the solo part is sung by Ian Bostridge who also premiered the work.

In this album Clara Andrada, solo flutist of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, performs three 20th century flute concertos together with the orchestra conducted by Jaime Martín. Malcolm Arnold’s delightful Flute Concerto No. 1 makes a pleasant addition alongside Nielsen’s and Ibert’s flute concertos. Jaime Martín, himself an excellent flutist, is a perfect companion to these works. This is the orchestra’s second album for Ondine, and continues the fruitful collaboration between Jaime Martín and Ondine that has already produced three albums previously. Clara Andrada de la Calleis one of the leading Flute players of her generation currently holding Solo Flute positions of both the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra. Born in Salamanca, she commenced her musical studies with Pablo Sagredo and Magdalena Martínez at the Syrinx School of Music. Scholarships from the Spanish Ministry of Culture and the London Wall Trust Foundation enabled her to continue her studies at the Geneva Conservatory of Music under Prof. Emmanuel Pahud and Prof. J.D. Castellon as well as the London Royal College of Music under the guidance of Jaime Martín. As a Principal Flute player, she has worked with many leading orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic, Swedish Radio, Rotterdam Philharmonic, and NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra under esteemed conductors including Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Valery Gergiev, Colin Davis, Bernard Haitink, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Myung-whun Chung, and Lorin Maazel.

-----

REVIEW:

Competition abounds in Nielsen’s Flute Concerto of 1926 but Andrada is totally inside the unsettled, quixotic nature of the music and communicates lyrical passages with ardent conviction. Jaime Martín, himself a distinguished flautist, provides lithe and vibrant accompaniment in both the Nielsen and Ibert concertos, while Andrada herself directs the strings with impressive authority in the Arnold concerto. The quality of the recording in all three works is as bright and vivid as the performances.

– Gramophone

Jon Nordal celebrated his 90th birthday in March 2016. Nordal and the Iceland Symphony joined forces to celebrate his life and his creative works. Three pieces on this recording were written in the height of Nordal's creative years, 1973-1975. This recording is the Ondine debut for conductor Johannes Gustavsson and the Iceland Symphony Orchestra.

This album includes a large portion of the orchestral works written by Ludvig Norman (1831–1885), ‘The Swedish Brahms’, including his masterpiece work, Symphony No. 3, performed by the Oulu Symphony Orchestra under Johannes Gustavsson. Ludvig Norman was a highly fascinating artist who inspired a generation of Swedish composers and was widely respected, although his 3rdSymphony was premièred only after the composer’s death.

Born in Stockholm, Sweden, Ludvig Norman (1831–1885) went at the age of to study at the famous Leipzig Conservatory, where his teachers included Ignaz Moscheles (piano) and Julius Rietz (composition). Having returned to Stockholm as a professional musician and composer deeply inspired by his impressions of musical life in Leipzig. Norman is often considered to be among Sweden’s premier symphonists after A. F. Lindblad and Franz Berwald (1796–1868). His contribution to the Swedish orchestral repertoire comprises three symphonies, three overtures and a Funeral March. Stenhammar described the composer’s 3rd Symphony as “full of beauty” and even claimed that he valued it more than “any of Brahms’s symphonies”.

REVIEW:

The orchestra plays beyond its regional reputation and does this vigorous music justice. Norman was Brahms’ near contemporary, and fascinated by German musical culture. The comparison with Brahms is apt enough. The Symphony No. 3 is indeed a work of Brahmsian rigor, even if Norman’s canvases are not as large as Brahms’. Consider the slow movement, where an opening hymn-like melody is carefully and quite variously developed. The three shorter works on the program are all compact and attractive and could be added to any orchestral program featuring Scandinavian music. An attractive release that should expand the orchestral repertory a bit.

-- AllMusic.com (James Manheim)

Cellist Wilhelmina Smith’s second album release on Ondine continues exploring contemporary Nordic repertoire for solo cello. In her new album Smith has focus on Danish contemporary composers, Per Nørgård (b. 1932) and Poul Ruders (b. 1949). Both Nørgård and Ruders are known for their large-scale orchestral works. Nørgård, in particular, is known for his eight symphonies and has been hailed by many as one of the greatest living symphonists. It is therefore intriguing to look closer to his two very early lyrical solo cello sonatas, early masterpieces written just before completing his 1st Symphony. In 1980, the composer revised his second sonata by adding an extensive second movement, almost an entirely new sonata, to the existing work. Nørgård’s 3rd sonata “What – Is the Word!” from 1999 is a short “Sonata breve” that takes its title from a quote by Irish playwriter Samuel Beckett. Another major Danish composer of our times, Poul Ruders (b. 1949), has also written 5 symphonies alongside several concertos and three operas. Ruders wrote his 10-movement Bravourstudien in 1976, just at the brink of a major stylistic change. This work is a set of variations on a Medieval folk tune “L’homme armé”. In this work, however, the original theme is heard at the very end of the work.

Since its foundation in 1985, record label Ondine has remained true to its guiding principle: an uncompromising devotion to excellence in recorded music. Over the past three decades Ondine has become a prestigious international label, and in collaborations with many well-known artists and orchestras the label has been honored with several major music awards. One of Ondine’s key missions has been to introduce new audiences to Finnish composers and artists, and some of the country’s finest classical innovators can be found by browsing the pages of Ondine’s continuously expanding catalogue. Through this catalogue we invite you to join us in exploring this fantastic repertoire! The catalogue album features German star violinist Christian Tetzlaff with virtuoso Romantic concertos by Felix Mendelssohn and Robert Schumann. The Mendelssohn Concerto is one of the most frequently performed violin concertos of all time, with an unfailing popularity among audiences. Also included is Schumann’s more seldom recorded Fantasy for Violin and orchestra, which he completed shortly before writing the Concerto. One of Schumann’s last significant compositions, the long-lost Violin Concerto saw its première performance only in 1937, and was hailed by Yehudi Menuhin as the “historically missing link of the violin literature.” Christian Tetzlaff is accompanied on this recording by the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra – whose Artist-in-Residence he became in 2008/09 – and their acclaimed music director Paavo Järvi.

Onute Narbutaite's (b. 1956) Oratorio Centones Meae Urbi (1997) is a key work in Lithunian contemporay music and a work that also earned the composer the Lithuanian National Laureate. This new 2024 recording of the work - which potrays the rich history of Lithuanian's capital city Vilnius - with Robertas servenikas conducting the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, the Kaunas State Choir and with Lithuanian vocal soloists, Gunta Gelgote and Nerijus Macevicius, is a major addition to Lithuanian recorded music.

Classical Music

This CD features Finnish pianist Henri Sigfridsson with piano works by Finnish composer Selim Palmgren. Palmgren is regarded as the most important post-romantic piano composer in Finland. The core of his output is formed by his five piano concertos and more than 300 small pieces for piano. The Sonata in D minor is Palmgren's most extensive work for piano and it was hailed as a milestone in Finnish music.

KUUSISTO, Pekka: Strings Attached

The calendar year 2023 marks the 90th birthday of Krzysztof Penderecki (1933–2020), one of the most prominent 21st Century Polish composers. Sacred themes and texts surround the creative work of Penderecki, including many of his large-scale works. This album consists of the majority of his impressive sacred a cappella choral works which are mainly written in Latin. These deeply religious choral works are modern classics which will, no doubt, remain in the choral repertoire for years to come.

REVIEW:

Penderecki’s sacred choral oeuvre is usually worthy of the best efforts singers are willing to bring to it. And here we have the self-recommending proposition of one of the world’s finest choirs bringing that music to life in the warm, reverberant space of St John’s Church in Riga, Latvia. The Ondine engineering makes it an even more emphatic win.

— American Record Guide

This new album by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and its chief conductor Hannu Lintu is dedicated to works by American composer Peter Lieberson (1946–2011). This album features award-winning bass-baritone Gerald Finley as soloist in Lieberson’s song cycle Songs of Love and Sorrow and Lieberson’s close friend Anssi Karttunen as soloist in The Six Realms for cello and orchestra. Lieberson’s Songs of Love and Sorrow is a deeply personal work. Lieberson had received a commission in 2005 to write a work for his wife, mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson. This project was interrupted by Lorraine’s death and soon after also the composer was diagnosed with cancer. The news of being awarded the Grawemeyer Award for his earlier song cycle Neruda Songs (2005) encouraged the composer to write another cycle on Neruda’s poetry, Songs of Love and Sorrow. The work was premiered by Gerald Finley in 2010. The composer wrote in his program notes: “I suppose that my life story of the past three years is not dissimilar to many others. The basic truths of love and sorrow are, I think, experiences that all of us understand very well. To have one without the other is not likely, but certainly it is our capacity to love that makes this human life so poignant.” Buddhist religion had played a significant role in Lieberson’s life since the early 1970s. This also had an impact on Lieberson’s compositions. According to Lieberson, “When I started writing music again, my style had changed... There was less sense of struggle... the horizon expanded. It’s as if you had tunnel vision, and then you have panoramic vision. Studying Buddhism also affected my approach to composing [in that] I understand there’s a kind of journey that’s made.”

This special three-album edition celebrates Peteris Vasks' 80th anniversary in 2026. The release consists of Vasks' first three award-winning album releases on Ondine. The debut album of Vasks' music on Ondine, featuring his 2nd Symphony and Violin Concerto 'Distant Light', was a major international breakthrough for the composer, earning two Cannes Classical Awards in 2004, including 'Album of the Year'.

Ernest Pingoud (1887-1942) is one of those names one encounters in footnotes, or in the more comprehensive musical dictionaries. The Gramophone Database contains no entry for him other than this worthy new disc, and I am not aware of any previous recordings of his music, even from Finland (to where he emigrated from Russia in 1918). In his day, he was considered one of Finland’s leading modernists, with Vaino Rautio and Aarre Merikanto, so consequently had to endure sustained indifference. He eventually threw himself under a train.

His style as exhibited in these five tone-poems (only Fetich, 1917, and Le chant de l’espace – “The song of space”, 1931-8 – really live up to the “symphonic poem” billing; the others are too small in scale) is frankly not particularly distinctive, and can be summed up as a mish-mash of Strauss and Scriabin orchestrated by Prokofiev. Resonances of other composers abound, not least of Russian contemporaries but also Finns such as Melartin in Le prophete (1921) and Fetich, and early Sibelius in Flambeaux eteints (“Extinguished torches”, 1919). Fetich is by some way the best of them, skittish and excitable by turns but compelling overall, unlike Le chant de l’espace which is overblown and structurally flaccid. Le prophete, Chantecler (1919) and the rather engaging Flambeaux eteints lie variously in between. Sakari Oramo produces exemplary performances, faithfully recorded. One for the specialists.

-- Gramophone [2/1998]

This awaited release is the first disc in a series of Olli Mustonen and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Hannu Lintu performing the Piano Concertos by Sergei Prokofiev. Without a doubt some of the most substantial twentieth century masterworks, Prokofiev’s piano concertos prove the composer’s brilliant piano skills. The composer premiered his First Piano Concerto in 1914. The Third Piano Concerto is the most popular of Prokofiev’s concertos. The piece took several years to complete, and premiered in Chicago in 1921. Prokofiev’s Fourth Piano Concerto (for the left hand) is the most rarely heard of the three concertos featured on this recording. He wrote the piece in 1931 for pianist Paul Wittgenstein, but the work wasn’t performed until 1956. Olli Mustonen is sought after by orchestras all over the world, and he has performed and recorded with such groups as the Berlin Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic, and The Royal Concertgebouw. His recent collaborations with the Finnish Radio Symphony have garnered excellent reviews.

REVIEW:

How many times have I regretted a shortage of fantasy, flair, and fairy-tale imagination in recordings of the Prokofiev piano concertos? Well, here is a disc that takes all those qualities to the top, gleefully goes over it, and ends up halfway down the other side. The super-light, transparent textures Hannu Lintu conjures from the orchestra are an excellent foil for the soloist. If there is room in your collection for several sets of the Prokofiev concertos, this one at least comes with a provocative distinctiveness.

– Gramophone

This is the second and final disc in a cycle of Sergei Prokofiev’s (1891–1953) piano concertos with pianist Olli Mustonen and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Hannu Lintu. The Gramophone Magazine wrote regarding the first volume in the series: "How many times have I regretted a shortage of fantasy, flair and fairy-tale imagination in recordings of the Prokofiev piano concertos? Well, here is a disc that takes all those qualities to the top."

Prokofiev’s Piano Concertos are among 20th century masterpieces. He wrote this magical work just before World War I. The original score was destroyed during the Russian revolution, and Prokofiev had to re-write the concerto in 1923.

Pianist Olli Mustonen has worked with most of the world’s leading orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic and The Royal Concertgebouw, partnering conductors such as Ashkenazy, Barenboim, Dutoit, Eschenbach, Harnoncourt, Masur and Nagano. As a recitalist, he plays in all the significant musical capitals, including Mariinsky Theatre St Petersburg, Wigmore Hall, Beethoven-Haus Bonn, Symphony Center Chicago, New York Zankel Hall and Sydney Opera House. His many albums for Ondine include Respighi’s Concerto in modo Misolidio with Sakari Oramo and the Finnish Radio Symphony and a critically acclaimed disc of Scriabin’s solo piano music. The recent recordings by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Hannu Lintu on Ondine have been a fruitful collaboration gathering excellent reviews in the international press.

PROKOFIEV: PIANO SONATA 5 & 6

Prokofiev, S.: Piano Sonatas Nos. 1-3 / Visions Fugitives

Prokofiev, S.: Symphony No. 2 / Summer Night / Autumnal Sket

REVIEW:

"In 1915, just two years before the Russian Revolution, Sergei Rachmaninoff wrote the breathtaking All-Night Vigil, a high-water mark for Russian Orthodox choral music. But the work had a short shelf life as the Bolsheviks cracked down on religion. These days, recordings of the work abound, but this new version by the Latvian Radio Choir and conductor Sigvards Klava is among the best. There's no orchestra, just voices, yet Rachmaninoff applies terrific coloristic and orchestral effects. In one section, sopranos ring out like tolling church bells. And here, listen for the rich, symphonic layering he gets with groups of voices shining like rays of light through stained glass." – Tom Huizenga, NPR Music

Sergei Rachmaninoff’s (1873-1943) rarely heard, unfinished opera Monna Vanna was the only major score he took with him into exile in the USA after the 1917 revolution. + This new recording is based on Gennadi Belov’s new edition and conducted by an iconic artist and Russian music expert Vladimir Ashkenazy. The second part of this disc features Finnish soprano Soile Isokoski singing seven Rachmaninov songs (including the hauntingly beautiful Vocalise), accompanied on the piano by Mr. Ashkenazy.

Choral Concert: Tapiola Choir - TORMIS, V. / ASHEIM, N.H. /

Classical Music