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SCRUTINY | A Long-Awaited Canadian Recital Debut By Soile Isokoski

By Joseph So on July 19, 2017

Soprano Soile Isokoski, pianist Martin Katz (Photo: James Ireland)
Soprano Soile Isokoski, pianist Martin Katz (Photo: James Ireland)

It was worth the wait. I am of course referring to soprano Soile Isokoski’s Liederabend last evening at Walter Hall, as part of this year’s Toronto Summer Music Festival.

With a nearly thirty-year career behind her and recently having turned sixty, the great soprano from Finland finally made her Canadian recital debut. Song lovers turned out in force to hear her—I spotted many singers in the audience, including Canadian soprano Adrianne Pieczonka. Previously, Isokoski had sung very little in Toronto—I recall a Kullervo and a Beethoven Ninth with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra during the tenure of Jukka-Pekka Saraste.

I admit I’m a huge fan, having heard her many times in my travels in some of her greatest roles—Marschallin, Rachel, Madame Lidoine, Countess. Her simplicity, sincerity, and musicality never fail to move me. No artifice, and zero diva posturing—she’s there to serve the music. Now that she has retired from opera, she gives the occasional recital, and devotes most of her energy to passing the torch to the next generation: she teaches at the University of Oulu and is a guest professor at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki.

Two years ago, Isokoski was here as a mentor at the TSMF Art of Song program, during which time I interviewed her for Musical Toronto. She strikes me as a wonderful teacher—supportive, wise, caring, analytical, and inspiring. It’s quite a coup for the TSMF to bring her back, and this time to sing as well as teach. It helped that American pianist Martin Katz, with whom she frequently collaborated in the last few years, is also here. I last heard Isokoski in August 2014 in Ravinia, as the Contessa in Nozze. As usual, her Contessa was a revelation. Sadly, that was to be the last time I heard her in opera, as she retired in December 2014, with the Marschallin at the Wiener Staatsoper as her farewell.

Here at TSMF, she began the recital with Schumann’s Gedichte der Königin Maria Stuart, Op. 135. These were Schumann’s last songs, composed at a time when his bipolar disorder had snuffed out his creative impulses. Given the subject matter and Schumann’s state of mind, these songs take on added poignancy. The Isokoski lyric instrument has retained its customary warmth and luminous tone. Her justly famous attention to textual nuances was all there.

This was followed by a selection of eleven of Hugo Wolf’s Italienisches Liederbuch. A substantial collection, it’s usually sung by a baritone and a soprano (or mezzo)—a real connoisseur’s cycle. Wolf’s melodic inspirations are perhaps not quite as obvious and accessible as that of other song composers like Schubert or Schumann, but they grow on the listener. Isokoski chose some very funny songs, like “Mein Liebster ist so klein” which she embodied to the hilt, showing off her mischievous spirit and great sense of humour.

After an intermission, Isokoski sang three of the Ophelia songs by Richard Strauss. The choice was a surprise: I really thought she would choose the ones she’s famous for, like Morgen, Zueignung, Cäcilie, etc. The Ophelia songs are mainly for light sopranos, but no matter—Isokoski delivered them vividly, with suitably girlish tone. For me the centrepiece of the recital was the eight Sibelius songs at the end. By then, the voice was fully warmed up and the top was easy, pure, and glorious. To think that at sixty, she could still sing with such gleaming, sweet, smooth tone, without any hint of vocal compromise! It’s a testament to her fine technique and intelligence in managing her repertoire, never singing outside her fach.

Of the eight in the group, she sang my desert-island Sibelius, “Flickan kom ifrån sin älskings mote.” It’s about a girl hiding from her mother her secret trysts with her boyfriend, until one day she comes home and reveals that she has been betrayed by him. A very dramatic song, with big piano accompaniment. Isokoski delivered it with great pathos. That said, I would have preferred a bigger sound from her, given that this piece demands great drama. She was not helped by the torrents of sounds coming from Martin Katz’s loud piano playing, with the lid fully opened. Katz is a sensitive collaborative pianist and the favourite of many singers the likes of Renata Tebaldi, but on this occasion with the lid full stick, it became a bit overpowering—too much for the intimate Walter Hall.

With the formal conclusion to the recital, the audience showed its deep appreciation with sustained applause. Isokoski gave two encores, the lovely “Del cabello ma sutil” by Obradors, beautifully sung in Spanish, followed by Bernstein’s “I Hate Music,” a funny song of a tone-deaf soprano, which had the audience in stitches. If you missed the concert, you can still catch Soile Isokoski—as a teacher. She’s giving a public masterclass in Walter Hall on Sunday 2 to 4 p.m. Not to be missed!

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#LUDWIGVAN

Joseph So

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