Vocally speaking, Scandinavia is doing us proud just now. Hot on the heels of von Otter’s Frauenliebe, on which JBS lavished so much justified praise in December, comes an interpretation from this young Finnish soprano that can well stand comparison with the Swedish mezzo’s reading. Indeed, they are complementary: von Otter, whose tone hasn’t anything like the refulgence of Isokoski’s, is just now the more measured and detailed interpreter, but Isokoski has other and contrasted virtues. In her wonderfully straightforward and musical performance, she marries a sincere spontaneity with a warming sense of line and phrase, a style well learnt yet put to her own, positive purpose. Before you is the rapturous bride-to-be in all her moods, then the young woman struck almost dumb by unexpected grief. Nothing in her portrayal is forced or in the least contrived yet everything, felt from the heart, goes to it.
And the voice itself? Well, if I say Isokoski has something of Flagstad, Ameling and Margaret Price in her tone, I don’t mean to suggest that she either apes any of those great sopranos or that she can yet be placed quite in their class. Nevertheless, reminders of Flagstad’s richness, Ameling’s naturalness and Price’s precision are there to be heard and enjoyed. She is just as imaginative in Op. 39 as in Op. 42 and since this is the only available CD that combines both sets of songs other than Norman’s unsatisfactory versions, it would be an excellent choice for anyone wanting the two works on one disc. If you choose it you will have a very central, unaffected account of the Liederkreis encompassing all its varied moods and one that makes its points unobtrusively and, as with Op. 42, with the emphasis on long-breathed phrasing and rock-steady tone. I guess it won’t be easy to tire of either interpretation.
The partnership with Viitasalo is obviously a fruitful one. The two artists think and ‘breathe’ alike and, though in Op. 42 the pianist isn’t as positive as Forsberg for von Otter, I did find him just occasionally too prominent, at least as recorded. Since DG offer as much as 30 minutes more music, anyone wanting Op. 42 will probably still opt for von Otter, but quantity isn’t everything and the quality found on Finlandia is of a high order and not on any account to be overlooked.'