Any singer must exorcise the ghost of Cathy Berberian in this and other vocal works of Berio and...Virpi Räisänen has the measure of it...In Hannu Lintu's marvellous new recording I hear and admire a rediscovery of the impatience and invention that drove Berio to write it, in the forward, piano-led instrumental balance and the unapologetic grandeur of the finale's climax.

The Ondine recording is also something of an exercise in hyper-reality, but the 5.0 surround experience is truly remarkable, and at times genuinely overwhelming. The performance is tremendously idiomatic and convincing. This production is an all-round winner from beginning to end.