The joint history of former string quartet violinist Virpi Räisänen and the Danel Quartet began nearly thirty years ago when the young chamber musicians met at the master class of the legendary Borodin Quartet at the Britten-Pears School in England.

Almost a couple of decades passed, when Räisänen, who had built an international career as a singer in the meantime, suddenly found herself performing in Belgium at the same festival as the Danel Quartet. The performance in question did not follow the traditional configuration, where the quartet acts as an accompaniment to the vocal soloist. Instead, it turned out to be an equal chamber music partnership, where the singer blended seamlessly into the quartet as a whole, as if its fifth member. After this performance, joint concerts around Europe have followed one another, and now Virpi Räisänen and the Danel Quartet have recorded a collection together, which includes works suitable for a mezzo-soprano-string quartet ensemble.

The recording was made in Virpi’s hometown in northern Finland, in the small village of Yli-Ii, part of the city of Oulu, where the Kierikki Stone Age Centre, one of the most famous archaeological centres in Finland and the Nordic countries, is located. The log built Kierikki Centre and its auditorium, which is perfectly suited for chamber music, have received several national and international architecture awards, and the centre functions not only as a congress space but also as a concert venue.