Soile Isokoski / Marita Viitasalo ó Wigmore Hall, London

Tim Ashley [Guardian, 26 June 2006]
The final encore of Soile Isokoski’s recital was a song by Finnish composer Aarre Merikanto entitled, quite simply, I Sing. It’s a restrained, if ecstatic post-Romantic number, and in many respects, it sums Isokoski up. She ranks among today’s finest sopranos by virtue of the fact that her voice is one of the greatest in the world, hitting you in the solar plexus each time you listen to it. On a concert platform, however, she’s remarkably self-effacing, never indulging in self-conscious histrionics and concentrating all her energies on the expressive potential of the glorious sound that issues from her throat.