Camilla Nylund in the Finnish National Opera, the 3rd of November, 2019

One of the concerts of PianoEspoo Festival this year was soprano Camilla Nylund’s lied concert in the Finnish National Opera. I cannot say what was it in this combination that didn’t seem to interest wider audiences, but the National Opera was half empty, which was a shame.

Sure, the concert programme consisted of rather safe choices, that were mostly known to anyone who follows lieds even some, but on the other hand different singers have their own interpretations of even the best-known songs. Besides, Camilla Nylund’s voice is impressive and at her best she is capable of really fine interpretations. She was accompanied by pianist Marita Viitasalo, whose professionalism one can always rely on.

Nylund started the concert with songs by Jean Sibelius, continued with Richard Wagner’s Wesendonck-songs and after the intermission first came Claude Debussy’s “Ariettes oubliées” and then Richard Strauss’s songs. As I said well-known and safe. After enthusiastic applause the audience got two encores. The first of them was far from a safe choice – William Walton’s “Old Sir Faulk”), but the second encore got back on a safer path – Armas Järnefelt’s “Toivoni” (My Hope) that got even stronger applause.

I like Debussy’s songs a lot, so it is no wonder, that my biggest favourite of the songs was “L’ombre des arbres” (Shadow of the Trees). I could downright see in front of my eyes the foggy river described in the song by the voice of Nylund. And even though I have in the past couple of years heard Strauss’s “Morgen” several times, it definitely is a song that changes with the interpretations and Nylund’s interpretations was by far not the worst. All in all, it was easy to notice the experience Nylund has of the German songs; she was clearly on her home turf. The concert was a refreshing experience on a grey Sunday afternoon.