In 2002 Metropolitan Opera regular Soile Isokoski won a Gramophone Award for her recording of Strauss's Four Last Songs. "Strauss singing doesn't come much better than this. I suspect that the composer himself‚ with his love of the soprano voice‚ would have been enthralled by Isokoski's glorious singing," wrote Gramophone. The Finnish soprano sings five Strauss songs in this luminous recital; encores include "Ma Elan" ("I Am Alive!") by Oskar Merikanto."Her voice is one of the greatest in the world, hitting you in the solar plexus each time you listen to it. On a concert platform, however, she's remarkably self-effacing, never indulging in self-conscious histrionics and concentrating all her energies on the expressive potential of the glorious sound that issues from her throat."—The Guardian
"Isokoski sings Morgen with a rapt sense of amorous wonderment, while the ecstatic outpouring of emotion in Cäcilie summons a thrilling élan…. She is superb, too, in the Sibelius group.... For one of her encores, Isokoski demonstrates that she can give Renée Fleming a run for her money with a sensuously phrased rendering of Gershwin's Summertime."—Sunday Times
"[Isokoski's] technique and intelligence have shone brightly on opera and concert stages (and on disc) in the last decade…. The Sibelius group, anything but an easy opener, sets exacting challenges to which Isokoski rises, culminating in the mini-opera The maiden's tryst. In the Strauss songs, a well chosen group concentrating on Strauss's marriage and fatherhood, Isokoski is realistically touching in Meinem Kinde and precisely focuses in on the dreamy eroticism of Cäcilie.... An important souvenir of fine recital singing."—Gramophone
Winner of Gramophone's 2011 Label of the Year award (and the first label dedicated to live recordings to win the prestigious accolade), the "Wigmore Hall Live" recording series continues to be "a source of sound documents to cherish" (BBC Music). This venue holds a unique place in London musical life and is an essential platform for the world's most sought-after soloists and chamber musicians. Every week a concert is broadcast on radio and the Internet, but with the launching of this recording label, Wigmore's great performances can be a revelation and a source of enduring pleasure to music lovers worldwide.
