Sibelius: Souda, souda, sinisorsa (Swim, duck, swim) (A.V. Forsman-Koskimies)

On the occasion of its 25th anniversary in 2010, Ondine releases a series of five twofers, containing best-selling titles from the back catalogue.

The focus is on five of Ondine’s star artists: sopranos Soile Isokoski and Karita Mattila, baritone Jorman Hynninen, violinist Pella Kuusisto and clarinettist Kari Kriikku.

These releases are specially priced (2 CDs for the price of 1) and are limited edition, running through 2010 only.

Matti Salminen is an acoustic phenomenon, according to many the finest and darkest bass voice of our time. In the 1970s and ‘80s he inherited mantle of the legendary Martti Talvela as the great Finnish Wagner bass in Bayreuth, until, to the regret of Wolfgang Wagner, he decided to devote his summers to the Savonlinna Opera Festival in Finland. James Levine, for his part, considers Salminen so essential that the scheduling of Wagner operas at the Met is adjusted to suit Salminen's diary. Salminen's journey to his present status has been a long one.The son of a working-class family, he earned his living at first as a tango king on Finnish dance-floors. From the dance-floor, his career has taken him to all the important opera houses of the world to sing with conductors including Daniel Barenboim, James Levine, Nicolas Harnoncourt and Pierre Boulez. On this new recording, Matti Salminen performs rarities outside the standard repertoire and delivers a personal account of orchestral songs from Finnish composers.Accompanied by the Helsinki Philharmonic under its new chief conductor John Storgårds, Salminen is completely at home singing this music. Many of these songs about nature and love deserve greater attention or discovery, for which this exceptional disc forms a perfect vehicle.

This box contains a large number of previously unreleased recordings, as well as many world premières on disc. The 236 page booklet contains all song texts in the original language, with English translations.

Sibelius’s earliest music was instrumental and it wasn’t until he was in his twenties that he turned to the solo song genre. From that time on, however, he wrote songs at regular intervals – more than a hundred in total. They form a substantial part of his output and are treasured highly by admirers of the composer, although only a handful have gained a regular place in the international repertoire.

As Andrew Barnett remarks in his informative liner notes, ‘listening to them in their entirety reveals considerable lightness of touch and many a flash of genuine humour. The finest of them certainly reveal his gift for melody and his acute response to nature imagery, especially when setting poems featuring pantheistic imagery.’

Many of the songs were written for or premièred by leading Finnish singers. It is a fine cast of Finnish singers who perform their compatriot’s music on this collection, which also includes the highly acclaimed recordings by the Swedish mezzo Anne Sofie von Otter of some of the best-known songs, including Black Roses, The Diamond on the March Snow and But My Bird is Long in Homing. As for the accompaniments, the lion’s share is in the hands of Folke Gräsbeck, an undisputed authority on Sibelius’s piano scores and a key contributor to this edition.