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Content: Olli Kortekangas Artists: Oulu Chamber Choir Oulu Symphony Orchestra Ynnin Pojat Boys' Choir Arvo Volmer, conductor Paula Etelävuori, contralto Jouni Kokora, bass-baritone Jaakko Kuusela, baritone Essi Luttinen, mezzo-soprano Hannu Niemelä, baritone Päivi Nisula, soprano Kasper Parkkinen, vocalist Riku Pelo, baritone Jani Posti, vocalist Elli Seeskorpi, vocalist Niklas Spångberg, bass Pertti Sveholm, spoken role Lassi Virtanen, tenor Genres: Opera Finnish contemporary Features: 2 CDs; booklet with liner notes and synopsis in English, German, French and Finnish, and the libretto in the original Finnish and in English |
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Format: CD Released: June 2006 Catalogue No.: ODE 1073-2D EAN/UPC Code: 0761195107324 |
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50:07 | |||||
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| Olli Kortekangas (1955-) | ||||||
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Messenius and Lucia | |
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| 1 | Act I | 50:07 | ||||
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51:48 | |||||
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| Olli Kortekangas (1955-) | ||||||
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Messenius and Lucia | |
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| 1 | Act II | 51:48 | ||||
This production is very much on the highest level, in terms of vocal performances, sound, and technique. (...) It aims at a general audience without being opportunistic.
- Michael Kube, FonoForum, October 2006, Music***** / Sound*****
World première recording - The opera was commissioned by the City of Oulu in northern Finland as part of its 400th anniversary and premiered there on September 16th, 2005. The recording features leading soloists from the Finnish National Opera, as well as the ensembles of the premiere performance. The libretto by Juha Seppälä combines true historical drama with a fictitious mismatched love story. The story, in two acts, traces the life of Swedish historian Johannes Messenius, a popular lecturer at the university of Upsala, who fell foul of powerful people and was sent into exile. Messenius and his wife Lucia spent twenty years as prisoners at Kajaani castle in eastern Finland, where he wrote his most lauded works. He died in Oulu less than a year after his release, in 1636.