Anybody who has heard Anu Komsi in Saariaho’s remarkable Leino Songs, or other works written for her, will want to discover this latest disc from the Finnish soprano. Described as having a ‘dynamic coloratura voice’, Komsi is no ordinary, girl-next-door soprano. Her singing comes on a generous scale, with a wide range and bags of personality – easily enough to encompass every aspect of this multifaceted 20th-century programme.

In her hands, the songs of Britten’s Les illuminations hold the key to a truly ‘savage parade’. I am not sure Britten would have entirely approved – there are some jarring, vibrato-less sounds just under the note and Komsi’s ideas can be a touch garish (try the ugly scoop at ‘Il parlait aux amis de révélation’ in ‘Royauté’) – but this is singing unafraid of exploring Rimbaud’s dark side. ‘Phrase’ has rarely sounded so other-worldly or ‘Parade’ so unbuttoned, all wholeheartedly supported by the Ostrobothnian orchestra under Juha Kangas. From there it is only a short step to Henze’s Being Beauteous, a setting of one of the same Rimbaud poems for perilously high soprano, four cellos and harp, sung here with fearless bravura.

The other three items take her on to new challenges. Schoenberg’s Herzgewächse, with its Queen-of-the-Night high F hanging magically in the air, is always a jaw-dropping party piece and does not disappoint here. After that, her heartfelt singing in Castiglioni’s Terzina brings five minutes of rapt stillness. Then Szymanowski’s alluring cycle Sπopiewnie (‘The Cherry Trees’) ends the disc in a mood of exotic beauty torn by a few moments of wild abandon. In these smaller pieces Oramo and the Uusinta Chamber Ensemble are exemplary colleagues, well recorded. It is hard to imagine a programme that is more imaginative or singing more compelling.