Takala, Katajala and Kataja in Tampere LiveLab, the 8th of March, 2022

One of the concerts that I have been most looking forward to was “The most beloved lieds” by Tuuli Takala, Tuomas Katajala and Arttu Kataja in Tampere LiveLab. This concert was held in a small, intimate bar and was definitely worth a trip to Tampere.

In the beginning all soloists sang their favourite German lieds: Katajala sang lieds from Robert Schumann’s “Dichterliebe”, Arttu Kataja sang a part of Franz Schubert’s “Winterreise” and Tuuli Takala sang some lieds by Richard Strauss. Katajala’s performance was wonderful, and it was easy to see that he is an experienced lied singer. I am really looking forward to his “Winterreise” this summer. Let’s see if he can reach the heights of Kataja’s “Winterreise”. This time Kataja’s beginning was a bit halting, which Kataja admitted himself, because it is not particularly easy to start singing in the middle of a cycle of songs. But we soon heard his fantastic version of this work. Tuuli Takala’s Strauss paled in comparison with the performances of the men.

After the intermission the soloists performed some of their favourite Finnish lieds. Tuomas Katajala’s performance of “Ma elän” (I live) by Oskar Merikanto was a charming praise to singing and Arttu Kataja’s “Svarta rosor” (Black roses) by Jean Sibelius was one of the best performances I have ever heard of this song. I think that also Tuuli Takala did better with the Finnish lieds and her “Demanten på marssjön” (The Diamond of the March Snow) by Jean Sibelius was lovely and absolutely suitable for an evening in March.