COMPOSERS: Finnish Christmas music
LABELS: Ondine
WORKS: Christmas Carols
PERFORMER: YL Male Voice Choir/Hyökki
CATALOGUE NO: ODE 1088-2
From the annual clutch of carol-based collections Jouluyö, Juhlayö particularly catches the attention. Finnish Christmas music is the main item on the menu, served up by the outstanding YL Male Voice Choir of Helsinki.
This is choral singing of elevated quality, technically impeccable but with absolutely no evident straining for effect.
They are joined on eight selections by fellow Finn Soile Isokoski, whose warm, sumptuously rounded soprano is spotlighted in ‘En etsi valtaa, loistoa’, a solo setting by Sibelius. Terry Blain