Entitled Mozart Jubileum, this Ondine disc is a sort of Baltic Mozart's greatest hits compiled from six earlier releases on the Finnish label Ondine. That's alright: while the program is an unusual mixture of opera arias interspersed with movements excerpted from solo concertos, the strength of the performances makes the whole somehow greater than the sum of its parts. The performances are uniformly first rate, but some are better than others. Latvian mezzo soprano
Elina Garanca's opening pair of Cherubino's arias from Le nozze di Figaro are delightfully seductive, but Finnish baritone
Jorma Hynninen's following pair of Don Giovanni's arias from the opera of the same name are tremendously powerful. After Finnish clarinetist
Kari Kriikku delivers a wonderfully poised performance of the central Adagio from the clarinet concerto, however, comes the true high point of the disc: Finnish soprano
Soile Isokoski's breathtakingly beautiful and amazingly affecting performances of arias from Zaide and Figaro. These are followed by Finnish baritone
Tommi Hakala's characterful but not yet wholly mature performances of arias from Figaro and Così fan tutti. The disc closes with Finnish violinist
Pekka Kuusisto's muscular but nevertheless charming performance of the complete Fourth Violin Concerto with pianist-cum-conductor
Olli Mustonen leading the
Tapiola Sinfonietta. As a musical calling card for the performers and as a disc highlighting a Baltic view of Mozart, this disc is a complete success, particularly in Ondine's fresh and natural sound.