Kuula: Tuijotin tulehen kauan, Op. 2 No. 2

Recorded at Air Studios, Hampstead, London, 24-26 January 2011

This remarkable programme presents songs and orchestral music by Finnish composer Toivo Kuula (1883-1918), a pupil of Sibelius who died young. Best-known for his songs and choral music, Kuula’s arresting orchestral music draws heavily on folk legends and Ostrobothnian folksong and constitutes some of the most striking Finnish music of its time. Renowed soprano Susan Gritton and the BBC Concert Orchestra under the inspired baton of Martyn Brabbins give spellbinding accounts of this gloriously colourful repertoire.

Full song text in booklet (both original Finnish and an English translation)

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.

Camilla Nylund made her debut in 1995 as Micaëla in Hanover, where she was immediately offered a contract through 1999. She has appeared there as the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro, Pamina, Fiordiligi, Antonia in The Tales of Hoffmann, Marie in The Bartered Bride, Agathe in Der Freischütz, Eva in Die Meistersinger, the Countess in Capriccio, Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus, Mimi and Lisa in Léhar's The Land of Smiles.

The current recital features a sampling of Ms. Nylund's expressive mastery of the Lied, Chanson and Song repertoire and presents a choice sampling of music of her Finnish countrymen, Sibelius and Kuula.