Das Marienleben (1948 version)

"…the most beautifully sung account I have heard in years, with perfect intonation throughout… Ondine's superb sound is also the finest on offer, exquisitely balanced between voice and piano, with depth and just the right degree of resonance. Where it counts, Isokoski and her partner catch the essence of Hindemith's music to near perfection: just listen to the final trilogy of "Vom Tode Mariäe" to hear the quality." Gramophone Magazine, February 2010

"…the cycle's angular vocal lines… are powerfully compelling when sung with such smoothness of phrase as Isokoski supplies here. Her strong sense of story-telling matches the pictorialism of the piano part, magnificently played by Marita Viitasalo." BBC Music Magazine, February 2010 ****

Soile Isokoski is hailed as one of the finest singers in the world: "Isokoski's lyric soprano is like liquid gold." (Fanfare). Her CDs for Ondine have been praised as top-choice recordings and garnered the highest distinctions at the BBC Music Magazine Awards, Gramophone Awards and MIDEM Classical Awards.

This recording features the revised 1948 version of Paul Hindemith's Das Marienleben (The Life of the Virgin Mary), a musical setting for voice and piano of Rainer Maria Rilke's cycle of fifteen poems of the same name. The work remains one of Hindemith's key masterpieces; Glenn Gould called it "the greatest song cycle ever written."

Soile Isokoski here performs together with her longstanding duo partner Marita Viitasalo.

The booklet includes expert notes by Giselher Schubert (Hindemith Institute, Frankfurt/Main), as well as the complete song texts in the original German and in English translation.