Here is another imaginative visual (and musical) interpretation of this cycle to place alongside that by Bostridge‚ directed by David Alden. In the present case the results are more modest‚ no less arresting‚ and a shade less self­conscious. The Finnish film‚ made in 1994‚ presumably for VHS‚ is discerningly directed by Julie Didier. While the perform­ance is being given in a museum hall in Lapland designed by the Finnish artist Reida Särestöniemi‚ his paintings and the beautifully photographed bleak‚ wintry landscapes outside are used with subtle artistry to illustrate the desperate‚ introspective songs. The method is used with a deal of care‚ cutting from the singer’s face to the pictures and the countryside‚ each image related to the text. My only reservation concerns the shots of the audience‚ which seem to break the spell. Fortunately these are kept to a minimum. Jorma Hynninen’s immense concentration throughout his singing of the cycle is in itself a startling image. He looks resolutely in front of him from start to finish with his deep­set eyes focused on the middle distance. His singing has an answering concentration. In its paradoxically contained yet expressively taut way‚ it makes a strikingly eloquent effect. Through the benefit of his and his persuasive pianist’s deep knowledge of the cycle‚ it is conceived as a satisfying whole. Sound and picture are admirable. The many aficionados of this work will find much to savour in this finely wrought reading on all sides.