Grieg & Sibelius
Songs
Karita Mattila (soprano), City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra/Oramo (Warner Classics 8573 80243-2)
Finnish diva Karita Mattila brings her uniquely eloquent, honey-voiced refinement to the music of her roots - Sibelius and Grieg - with the City of Birmingham Symphony under fellow Finn Sakari Oramo. Mattila makes even the most lugubrious music sexy; these are other-worldly songs, some (from Grieg's Peer Gynt, for instance) more familiar than others, all carrying that Nordic angst which Mattila is uniquely qualified to convey. Not since her stunning Jenufa have we heard vocal pyrotechnics as elegant as they are heart-rending.
