Discography

“A New Mezzo Star born with her debut album” Aamulehti

“Cd of the Month – Virpi Räisänen’s debut cd is an artistic success” Rondo Classic

“Highly impressive calling card” Gramophone

THE LEGACY OF MAHLER
Virpi Räisänen, mezzo-soprano
Marita Viitasalo, piano

“Räisänen’s considerable story-telling talents come into play in these selections, sometimes with broadly elongated phrases, a laugh here and there and a huge range of vocal colour” Gramophone

“Her interpretations are thoroughly lively and technically superb” Hufvudstadsbladet

“This is a well thought-over disc. – A disc for the lied lovers, absolutely.” Innerworld Audio

“Such splendor of sound, tone color spectrum and the maturity of the interpretation is seldom heard in the debut album of a singer in the beginning of her career.” Aamulehti

“Räisänen is a singer to watch and this is a terrific debut recording.” Ariama.com

“One can hear the violincareer of mezzo-soprano Virpi Räisänen in her certainty of rhythm
and intonation.” Helsingin Sanomat

Released: August 2012
Catalogue No.: ODE 1208-2
EAN/UPC Code: 0761195120828

 

LUGIANO BERIO CALMO (1974/1989)

Virpi Räisänen, mezzo-soprano
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Hannu Lintu, conductor

Released: September 2014
Catalogue No.: ODE 1227-5

“Calmo for mezzo-soprano and small orchestra flows gently understarlit sky. Thanks belongs in large extent to mezzo-soprano Virpi Räisänen. In difficult textue she manages to create a sleek and intonation wise high-precision interpretation, without sounding too instrumental.”       – Yle

“Any singer must exorcise the ghost of Cathy Berberian in this and other vocal works of Berio and, as the actor of heroines from Haydn to Nono, Virpi Räisänen has the measure of it.”     – Gramophone

 

TRASPARENTE 

“All in all, I am utterly mesmerized how Räisänen masters her violin and voice simultaneously.”   – Kare Eskola, Yle

“Here is something decidedly different — a mezzo-soprano in a recital of worksfor voice and violin where she not only sings, but plays the violin. Virpi Raisanen has a rich, warm mezoo-soprano, steady and even from top to bottom. She’d be a pleasure to hear in anything. She is also a first-rate violinist and combines her two skills in a beautiful recital, —The sound captures the unique glow of Raisanen’s voice and violin well.This is a very intimate, revealing recital, one that I shall return to often when needing reassurance in these turbulent times.”                                                                              – 2020 American Record Guide

Virpi Räisänen, mezzo-soprano & violin

Bram van Sambeek, bassoon, Nando Russo, percussion, Harri Östermann, cello, Nick Scholten, harp

Released: April 2020

Catalogue No: ABCD 453 / 6417513104530

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kk4DxqGV9KE&feature=youtu.be

 

THE EARTH, SPRING’S DAUGHTER BY OUTI TARKIAINEN

Virpi Räisänen, mezzo-soprano, Lapland Chamber Orchestra, John Storgårds onductor

Released: August 2020

Catalogue No: ODE 1353-2

“The tonal language is alternately richly painterly and sensitively shimmering, with rather dramatic climaxes, and it is difficult to imagine a better sent interpreter of the suggestively carved vocal poetry than Virpi Räisänen, who not only sings but literally lives out her material with an expression and color-wise exemplary versatile voice.”          – Mats Liljeroos HBL

“Die als Interpretin zeitgenössischer Musik vielfach ausgewiesene Mezzosopranistin Virpi Räisänen gestaltet die Lieder mit einer bewundernswerten Vielfalt an Farben und Ausdrucksnuancen, angefangen vom fast gesprochenen Prolog über blühende Lyrismen bis hin zu den immer wieder geforderten vokalen Ekstasen.” 10 10 10.                  – Ekkehard Pluta Klassik Heute

“Virpi Räisänen is one of the leading Finnish mezzo-sopranos and an insightful and unerring interpreter of contemporary works. Her performance in Earth, Spring’s Daughter is fantastic both vocally and in terms of interpretation.”

– Anna Pulkkis FMQ

“Astoundingly sung by Räisänen, with Storgårds and the Lapland Chamber Orchestra as her wonderful fellow travelers, The Earth, Spring’s Daughter is given a superlative premiere recording. The voice and the orchestra, in its many guises, are ever in perfect accord, with the balance well adjusted throughout. Räisänen’s mastery over the vocal line is simply admirable. Joined by the marvellous soli of the Lapland Chamber, this is a recording to cherish.”                    – Jari Kallio AIM