The Legacy Of Mahler - Virpi Raisanen, Marita Viitasalo (2012)

Ondine is pleased to announce the debut release of charismatic mezzo-soprano Virpi Räisänen. Having already performed as a successful violinist, Virpi Räisänen has since appeared as a singer at the Staatsoper in Berlin, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Netherlands Opera and the Salzburg Festival with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Ingo Metzmacher in Nono’s opera Al gran sole carico d’amore in 2009 and in the premiere of Wolfgang Rihms’s Dionysos in 2010.

Virpi Räisänen is equally at home with contemporary and baroque music with her beautiful timbre able to fit well with all genres.

Pianist Marita Viitasalo has performed extensively as Soile Isokoski’s accompanist, performing with her in recitals across the world since 1987. She plays chamber music in the Trio Finlandia and appears regularly with Scandinavian orchestras.

Composer: Gustav Mahler, Alban Berg, Arnold Schoenberg, Dmitri Shostakovich, …
Performer: Virpi Raisanen, Marita Viitasalo

Reviews: “With a Nordic timbre suggesting a genetic kinship with Karita Mattila, Räisänen's instrument is clear, clean and beautifully produced from a technical standpoint, with an extra something that's initially hard to put your finger on. Then, as the recital goes on, you realise a violinist's sensibility is at work…As much as her sound recalls Mattila, her vocal line is like Felicity Lott's…it's a highly impressive calling-card.”

“the precision of Raisenen's singing is most impressive, although it doesn't come across as cold or overly technical…Her sound is bright on top and her lower register is rich without being matronly. She is idiomatic in German, Russian and English…The only thing that I miss in her singing is communicative warmth and intimacy…Here is a singer to keep an ear on.”

Tracklisting:

1. Lieder und Gesänge, vol 3: no 2, Ablösung im Sommer by Gustav Mahler
Performer: Virpi Raisanen (Soprano), Marita Viitasalo (Piano)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1887-1890; Budapest, Hungary

2. Lieder und Gesänge, vol 1: no 5, Phantasie aus Don Juan by Gustav Mahler
Performer: Virpi Raisanen (Soprano), Marita Viitasalo (Piano)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1880-1883; Austria

3. Lieder und Gesänge, vol 1: no 4, Serenade aus Don Juan by Gustav Mahler
Performer: Virpi Raisanen (Soprano), Marita Viitasalo (Piano)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1880-1883; Austria

4. Lieder und Gesänge, vol 1: no 3, Hans und Grethe by Gustav Mahler
Performer: Virpi Raisanen (Soprano), Marita Viitasalo (Piano)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1880-1883; Austria

5. Lieder und Gesänge, vol 1: no 2, Erinnerung by Gustav Mahler
Performer: Virpi Raisanen (Soprano), Marita Viitasalo (Piano)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1880-1883; Austria

6. Lieder und Gesänge, vol 1: no 1, Frühlingsmorgen by Gustav Mahler
Performer: Virpi Raisanen (Soprano), Marita Viitasalo (Piano)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1880-1883; Austria

7. Songs (4), Op. 2: no 1, Schlafen, schlafen by Alban Berg
Performer: Virpi Raisanen (Soprano), Marita Viitasalo (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: ?1909-10; Austria

8. Sehnsucht I by Alban Berg
Performer: Virpi Raisanen (Soprano), Marita Viitasalo (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: Austria

9. Schliesse mir die Augen beide (II) by Alban Berg
Performer: Virpi Raisanen (Soprano), Marita Viitasalo (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1925; Austria

10. Schliesse mir die Augen beide (I) by Alban Berg
Performer: Virpi Raisanen (Soprano), Marita Viitasalo (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1907; Austria

11. Regen by Alban Berg
Performer: Virpi Raisanen (Soprano), Marita Viitasalo (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1905-1909; Austria

12. Er klagt, dass der Frühling so kortz blüht by Alban Berg
Performer: Virpi Raisanen (Soprano), Marita Viitasalo (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: circa 1902; Austria

13. An Leukon by Alban Berg
Performer: Virpi Raisanen (Soprano), Marita Viitasalo (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1908; Austria

14. Cabaret Songs: Galathea by Arnold Schoenberg
Performer: Virpi Raisanen (Soprano), Marita Viitasalo (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1901-1905

15. Cabaret Songs: Einfältiges Lied by Arnold Schoenberg
Performer: Virpi Raisanen (Soprano), Marita Viitasalo (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1901; Vienna, Austria

16. Cabaret Songs: Die genügsame Liebhaber by Arnold Schoenberg
Performer: Virpi Raisanen (Soprano), Marita Viitasalo (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1901; Vienna, Austria

17. Fables (2) after Krylov, Op. 4 by Dmitri Shostakovich
Performer: Virpi Raisanen (Soprano), Marita Viitasalo (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1922; USSR

18. A Charm of Lullabies, Op. 41 by Benjamin Britten
Performer: Virpi Raisanen (Soprano), Marita Viitasalo (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1947; England



Thanks to the original releaser