Aulis Sallinen: The King Goes Forth to France (2006)

by Arttu Kataja (baritone), Herman Wallén (baritone), Janne Sundqvist (bass), Jussi Myllys (tenor), Jyrki Anttila (tenor), Jyrki Korhonen (bass), Kirsi Thum (soprano), Laura Nykanen (contralto), Lilli Paasikivi (mezzo-soprano), Mari Malo (soprano)

Finnish label Ondine's release of The King Goes Forth to France is the first recording of the 1984 opera by Aulis Sallinen on a libretto by Paavo Haavikko. Haavikko is one of the most renowned figures in contemporary Finnish literature, and The King Goes Forth to France has its origins in a radio play presented on Finnish Radio a decade earlier. It is a post-apocalyptic tale of an unspecified King of England who moves onto the continent, defeating and killing the armies of the Western lands after the British Isles are ... Read More

Finnish label Ondine's release of The King Goes Forth to France is the first recording of the 1984 opera by Aulis Sallinen on a libretto by Paavo Haavikko. Haavikko is one of the most renowned figures in contemporary Finnish literature, and The King Goes Forth to France has its origins in a radio play presented on Finnish Radio a decade earlier. It is a post-apocalyptic tale of an unspecified King of England who moves onto the continent, defeating and killing the armies of the Western lands after the British Isles are frozen over during an encroaching ice age. The story is rather nonsensical and is, by turns, whimsical and violent, written completely without regard for chronology or developments in technology and weaponry -- various eras both historical and current collide in the course of the opera. It bears a trace of influence from Frenchman Alfred Jerry's play Ubu Roi with one main exception being the addition of four women, two named Caroline and two named Anne, whose place it is to win the heart... Read Less