Prestigious French Diapason d’Or for HPO-YL Kullervo

The disc of Sibelius’s Kullervo Symphony by the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and the YL Male Voice Choir conducted by Leif Segerstam, released to great critical acclaim in the international press, has been awarded a prestigious Diapason d’Or 2008. The soloists in the Ondine recording (ODE 1122-5) are Soile Isokoski, soprano, and Tommi Hakala, baritone.

Diapason, France’s leading classical disc magazine, annually singles out classical discs for its prestigious Diapason d’Or – awards on a par with those of Britain’s Gramophone. The recording of Kullervo received the prize for symphonic music, chosen by a jury of music editors, and the gala ceremony was held in Paris on Thursday, November 20.

Kullervo featured as one of the best discs in the July-August issue of Diapason. According to the review, “Leif Segerstam firmly places himself at the summit of the [Kullervo] discography. (…) Isokoski is quite simply unsurpassable. The YL Male Voice Choir confirms that it is one of the finest contemporary interpreters of Sibelius’s music and the HPO heeds the conductor’s wishes with an instrumental quality backed by profound vision.”

The recording by star soprano Soile Isokoski and the Helsinki Philharmonic under Leif Segerstam (ODE 1080-5) of Luonnotar and other songs by Sibelius with orchestral accompaniment won a BBC Music Magazine Disc of the Year award in 2007.

Kullervo was the second Ondine release to win a Diapason d’Or. The first was a Sibelius disc by Mikko Franck and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra (ODE 953-2) in 2000.