A frame of applause and ecstatic ovations greet what is one of Karita Mattila's most exciting discs yet… The repertoire takes Mattila's voice into thrilling new regions; and Martin Katz's piano is the voice's equal at every turn.

Best of all is the highly expressive Quatre Instants by Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, dedicated to Mattila and showing how the singer is prepared to extend her range into new music to quite stunning effect.

Following the Saariaho, passion is torn to tatters in the Rachmaninov group, with perhaps the strongest advocacy of the two Pushkin settings (Oh, do not sing tome and The Muse) since Söderström. Then, instead of making this the final item, Mattila ops for the gentler, even light-hearted, envoi of the Dvorák songs - superbly done, with a real wit and character. Nothing but praise then for the soprano, with generous, untiring and subtly detailed concentration over a longish time span in heavy repertoire, or for her accompanist (Katz is a real listener to what his singer does).

The songs push Mattila to her expressive limits as cries of rapture curdle into shrieks of pain and spasms of rage intrude on erotic memories. Its impact on the audience can be gauged from the near hysteria that erupts at the end…Her accompanist, Martin
Katz, deals superbly with some of the most fearsomely difficult piano writing in the entire song repertoire.