Post Description

With this recording of Rachmaninov's Vespers by the Finnish National Opera Chorus under the direction of Eric-Olof Söderström, there is finally a non-Russian performance to match the Russians. The Finnish choir has the stark strength, the imposing tone, the magisterial command of the Russian choirs. More importantly, they have the same faith in the score's musical worth and spiritual profundity and their performance does achieve the same level of greatness and grandeur as the Russians. But, most interestingly, the Finnish choir achieves perhaps greater clarity than any Russian choir and there are things in this performance -- details of line and texture -- that one never hears in the richer, riper Russian performances. While one should certainly hear at least one Russian performance of the Vespers, this Finnish performance would certainly be a welcome addition to any Rachmaninov shelf. Naxos' 2001 sound is deep and lucid.