Sibelius: Var det en dröm? Op. 37 No. 4 (J.J. Wecksell) (Was it a Dream)

“'Gretchen am Spinnrade' is a model of how a middle-weight voice can scale the song's peaks thanks to an inner conviction and trusting how the notes and words can shoulder the dramatic weight...So beautiful is her enunciation in the Swedish-language Sibelius songs that you could take phonetic dictation...The Grieg songs show signs of vocal tiring...In 'Die verschwiegene Nachtigall', though, one can hardly imagine a more alluring nightingale song.” Gramophone Magazine, August 2012

“a lovely, beautifully balanced recital...In an opening Schubert set, Persson, for all the natural brightness of her voice, achieves the right aching heaviness in Lied der Mignon, and a beguiling sense of gentle repose in Du bist die Ruh.” Sunday Times, 15th July 2012

“Persson is beautiful and so is her voice, so she starts with a big advantage. But that is only the start...I did find...that there was a danger of monotony, undercharacterisation and reliance on sheer undeniable vocal beauty. Roger Vignoles is an ideal accompanist, setting the mood with a few notes or chords” BBC Music Magazine, September 2012 ***

“Persson clearly relishes the possibility of characterization particular songs...The voice is light and lyric throughout but there's power too when required, so the final lines of Du bist die Ruh are radiant...However - and this is possibly a subjective caveat - what Persson lacks is the kind of rounded warm tone and inner conviction that makes the best Schubert recitals so warmly satisfying...Hosford is the perfect partner up on the rock” International Record Review, September 2012

“Tine Thing Helseth is blessed with a combination of great wind-playing attributes: a soulful - dare one say brooding, Nordic - approach to phrasing, quite astonishingly outstanding intonation and a sound which is open and honest, even and focused in all registers...Helseth can do the ultimate in good trumpet-playing: smith a tune with seeming effortlessness.” Gramophone Magazine, July 2012

“More inveterate collectors will want this latest issue - which also is reported to be the last issue from Bluebell, who have done a sterling job over the years to put on disc innumerable previously unavailable Jussi titles. The team behind this set and all the previous issues of Jussi Björling recordings have done sterling service to his memory and their best reward would be that even more people would invest in all the riches that this and the previous issues contain. A cultural achievement of the utmost importance”.” MusicWeb International

"A thrilling performance of Luonnotar in which Isokoski’s sonorous soprano is matched by atmospheric playing from the Finnish orchestra. The rest of the disc makes you wonder why Sibelius’s orchestral songs occupy one of the most unjustly neglected corners of his output." Erik Levi BBC Music Magazine

“Soile Isokoski's voice has matured into a powerful instrument without losing its distinctively plangent expressiveness and intense way with words… Segerstam… provides spacious yet vividly dramatic support, with superb orchestral playing.” BBC Music Magazine, July 2006 *****

“Sibelius wrote his songs originally for voice and piano and in that form they are most often recorded. Some he later orchestrated, while others were arranged by Jussi Jalas (his son-in-law), Ernest Pingourd, Ivan Hellman and Nils-Eric Forgstadt. All produce good results and none of the songs appear over-dressed. On the contrary, they are, as it were, fulfilled: orchestral textures are so strongly implicit that the full range of instruments brings out their coloration and renders them complete.
Soile Isokoski has recorded a number of the songs previously with piano, part of a fine recital on Finlandia in 1989, which was about the time we first learned of the radiant Finnish soprano who five or six years later would receive the international acclaim she deserved…” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“The voice… lovely, firm and ample in range. Above all, she has a rare command of the legato style which makes her singing a delight to the ears… the recital always gives pleasure, and the challenge of Luonnotar itself is joyfully met. The orchestra play with full appreciation of the richly coloured scores, and since Flagstad in the 1950s there have been few recordings which provide these genuinely enhancing accompaniments as an alternative to the piano.” Gramophone Magazine, July 2006