The Red Line

As we approach the end of Aulis Sallinen‘s 75th birthday year, Ondine has released a new DVD featuring the premiere recording for video of the two-act opera The Red Line (1978). This Finnish National Opera production, conducted by Mikko Franck and staged by Pekka Milonoff, has been hailed by the international press

The Red Line“The sold-out performances and the warm reception of the audience in Helsinki cannot be attributed merely to national pride; the audible sobs and charged stillness as the curtain fell were testament to a musical drama that hits at the very core of the human condition” – Opera News.

The story, taken from a novel by Ilmari Kianto, centres on the fate of a poor woodsman, Topi, and his wife, Riika, at the time of the first democratic elections in Finland in 1907. To celebrate the centenary of those elections, Finnish National Opera chose to present a new staging of this work, which has seen numerous international productions. The continuing appeal of the work is not hard to understand. Its musical language is firmly rooted in tradition, weaving strands of church music, folksongs and romantic echoes of Sibelius. Sallinen creates orchestral and vocal structures that explore new, unexpected directions while still retaining a tinge of familiarity.

“Aulis Sallinen’s The Red Line is the best new opera I have heard in many a year (…) it proved as gripping in its way as Wozzeck or Jenufa” – The New York Times.

This DVD comes in 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound and includes English subtitles. The extensive bonus extras include interviews with Aulis Sallinen, Pekka Milonoff, Mikko Franck and Jorma Hynninen.

For more information please visit the Ondine website

To buy the DVD, click here