Soile Isokoski.(musical audio)(Sound Recording Review)

Soile Isokoski

"MOZART ARIAS" Tapiola Sinfonietta, Schreier. Texts and translations. Ondine ODE 1043-2 (Koch, dist.)

In a recital with the Tapiola Sinfonietta led by Peter Schreier, Finnish soprano Soile Isokoski's presentation of seven major Mozart arias shows perfect understanding of the subtle dramatic and musical demands of this repertoire.

Like the cavatina/cabaletta pairing of nineteenth-century operas, opera seria arias of the late-eighteenth century were designed to reveal an artist's full dramatic and musical sense by their sectional nature, with contrasting tempos and textures, often including accompanied recitative. These structures were so formal and their texts often so generic that pieces could be shuffled around, enabling singers to substitute specially composed arias or showier pieces into operatic performances. Mozart composed several of these insert arias along with stand-alone concert arias used for orchestral recitals. As concert repertoire for the soprano Josepha Duschek, Mozart composed "Ah, lo previdi" and "Bella mia fiamma," both sung here with fine detail and feeling by Isokoski. For Nancy Storace, the first Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, Mozart wrote the masterpiece "Ch'io mi scordi di te," with an important piano solo (written for himself and played on this disc with sparkling assurance by Marita Viitasalo) joining the voice, almost like a double concerto.

Isokoski's narrow, densely colored voice, ...