Karita Mattila
Helsinki Recital
Finnish contemporary
1 DVD Video (all regions; NTSC Colour 16:9; Dolby Digital 5.0 Surround / PCM Stereo); menu in English/Finnish; booklet with liner notes in English, German, French and Finnish, and the song texts in the original language and in Finnish
+ 1 CD bonus compilation
DVD Video
Released:
September 2010
Catalogue No.:
ODV 4004
EAN/UPC Code:
0761195040041
Wie der Titel schon sagt, feiert hier eine Stadt ihre Heldin. (...) Zwei auf der CD fehlende Encores (...) spiegeln ebenfalls den eklektischen, aber mitreissenden Musikgeschmack der Mattila.
Manuel Brug, Fono Forum, September 2011
This recital, live from Finnish National Opera in 2006, is a thrilling crescendo of the performance art of one of the greatest living sopranos. You can now watch the fine detail of how Karita Mattila gives her physical all in recital as much as on the operatic stage. (...) a real treasure trove of delights!
Hilary Finch, BBC Music Magazine, Christmas 2010, Performance ***** / Picture & Sound **** / Extras *****
So viel hemmungslose Selbstentäußerung erlebt man bei keinem anderen Künstler der E-Musik. Das kommt von innen und drängt aus ihr heraus. Ganz deutlich wird das in den für sie komponierten Quatre instants von Kaija Saariaho. Hier wird in vier „Momentaufnahmen" der Liebe Freud und Leid in existentieller Weise besungen, und die Sängerin geht hier an die Grenzen ihrer Ausdrucksmöglichkeiten und ihrer Stimme. Sie wird dabei eins mit der Musik. Diesem Darstellungsprozess kann sich der Hörer nicht entziehen.
Ekkehard Pluta, klassik-heute.com, 26.10.2010, 9 • 9 • 9
This DVD release features Karita Mattila in a rare Lieder Recital, which the Finnish star soprano gave to a compatriot audience at the Finnish National Opera in Helsinki in October 2006. As a free bonus, an additional CD compilation includes a selection of Karita Mattila's 1995-97 studio recordings of German and Finnish Lieder. This release pays tribute to Karita Mattila ("one of the most interesting, exciting sopranos in the world today" - Gramophone) on the occasion of her 50th birthday in 2010.
The live recorded sell-out concerts were hailed by international critics as showcasing "Karita Mattila at her glorious peak... No wonder the Helsinki audience went berserk." (The Daily Telegraph). The program included selected songs by Henri Duparc and Sergei Rachmaninov, in addition to Dvorak's Gipsy Songs and Kaija Saariaho's song cycle Quatre instants, written for Karita Mattila in 2002. This recording features the cycle's national première performance in Finland.
The sound recording of Helsinki Recital was previously released on hybrid SACD in June 2007 (ODE 1100-5) and garnered the highest accolades throughout the international press, including BBC Music Magazine 'Song Choice' and Gramophone 'Editor's Choice'. International Record Review called the recording a "spectacular souvenir of her live shows".
This is the much-awaited first-ever release of Helsinki Recital on DVD and also includes the previously unreleased encores.
This product includes an additional free bonus CD compilation, featuring Karita Mattila and pianist Ilmo Ranta with recordings from 1995–97 of popular Lieder repertoire by Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, and Finnish composers Kuula and Melartin.
