Lise Davidsen sings Wagner & Richard Strauss
£12.83
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Label: Decca
Cat No: 4834883
Format: CD
Number of Discs: 1
Genre: Vocal/Choral
Release Date: 31st May 2019
Contents
Works
Ariadne auf Naxos, op.60Lieder (5), op.41
Vier letzte Lieder (Four Last Songs), AV150
Tannhauser
Artists
Lise Davidsen (soprano)Philharmonia Orchestra
Conductor
Esa-Pekka SalonenWorks
Ariadne auf Naxos, op.60Lieder (5), op.41
Vier letzte Lieder (Four Last Songs), AV150
Tannhauser
Artists
Lise Davidsen (soprano)Philharmonia Orchestra
Conductor
Esa-Pekka SalonenAbout
role in which Lise Davidsen will make her debut at Bayreuth Festival. Plus Ariadne’s aria from Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos: her 2017 Glyndebourne debut in the title role was named “one of those ‘I was there’ moments” (The Times).
Also includes Strauss’s iconic Four Last Songs, originally premiered by Decca’s Kirsten Flagstad.
Recorded with the Philharmonia Orchestra, who performed the premiere of the Four Last Songs, and Finnish conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen.
Lise Davidsen is the first Scandinavian soprano to sign to Decca since Birgit Nilsson, and the first Norwegian singer to join Decca since Kirsten Flagstad’s acclaimed recordings in 1950s.
Sound/Video
Paused
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1Wagner: Tannhauser, WWV 70 / Act 2 - Dich, Teure Halle, Gruss Ich Wieder
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2Wagner: Tannhauser, WWV 70 / Act 3 - Allmacht'ge Jungfrau, Hor Mein Flehen!
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3R. Strauss: Ariadne Auf Naxos, Op. 60, TrV 228 - Es Gibt Ein Reich
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4R. Strauss: 4 Lieder, Op. 27, TrV 170 - 1. Ruhe, Meine Seele!
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5R. Strauss: 4 Lieder, Op. 27, TrV 170 - 2. Cacilie
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6R. Strauss: 4 Lieder, Op. 27, TrV 170 - 3. Heimliche Aufforderung (Arr. Heger)
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7R. Strauss: 4 Lieder, Op. 27, TrV 170 - 4. Morgen!
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8R. Strauss: 5 Lieder, Op. 41, TrV 195 - 1. Wiegenlied
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9R. Strauss: Malven, TrV 297 (Arr. Rihm)
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10R. Strauss: Vier Letzte Lieder, TrV 296 - 1. Fruhling
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11R. Strauss: Vier Letzte Lieder, TrV 296 - 2. September
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12R. Strauss: Vier Letzte Lieder, TrV 296 - 3. Beim Schlafengehen
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13R. Strauss: Vier Letzte Lieder, TrV 296 - 4. Im Abendrot
Europadisc Review
Ms Davidsen started out as a mezzo-soprano in baroque opera before moving up to the soprano range, which helps to explain why she has such strength in her middle register, as well as gleaming top notes and a tone that combines clarity and focus with warmth and depth, phenomenal breath control, immaculate diction and well-nigh perfect intonation. And despite her youth (she turned 32 in February) she also has abundant musical maturity, as is quickly evident in the opening tracks of this album, Elisabeth’s arias ‘Dich, teure Halle’ and ‘Allmächt’ge Jungfrau’ from Wagner’s Tannhäuser. It’s a role she has already performed to great acclaim in Zurich and Munich, and this summer it will also form her Bayreuth debut. On the evidence of this disc, audiences on the Green Hill are in for a real treat: ‘Dich, teure Halle’ is gloriously confident (even if the last inch of Mendelssohnian lightness eludes Salonen), while Elisabeth’s Prayer Prayer is splendidly heartfelt.
Just as impressive is ‘Es gibt ein Reich’ from Ariadne auf Naxos, a stellar performance combining majesty, poise and human tenderness, with alert support from the Philharmonia’s excellent wind section. It also makes the perfect springboard into the selection of Strauss songs that follows. The Four Songs, op.27, receive quite remarkable performances that once again demonstrate the sheer range of Davidsen’s voice: she and Salonen create a wonderful feeling of tension in the opening ‘Ruhe, meine Seele!’, while ‘Cäcilie’ and ‘Heimliche Aufforderung’ have real Straussian exuberance to them, and the concluding ‘Morgen!’ is marvellously rapt and still, Davidsen’s heart-melting tones matched by the solo violin of Zsolt-Tihamér Visontay. ‘Wiegenlied’, op.41 no.1, is a wonder of dynamic control, with the Philharmonia creating some magical textures to support the gently floating vocal line, and the last song that Strauss ever wrote, Malven (‘Mallows’, discovered as recently as 1984) is heard in an effective orchestration by Wolfgang Rihm.
Then it’s on to what for many will be the main attraction of this disc, the Four Last Songs, premiered in 1950 (less than a year after Strauss’s death) by an earlier generation of Philharmonia players and another Norwegian soprano, the great Kirsten Flagstad, under the baton of Wilhelm Furtwängler. That’s a performance that survives only in rather compromised sound, so comparisons would be academic, but here Ms Davidsen lies somewhere between the ripe fullness of Flagstad and the more glistening clarity of Lisa Della Casa, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (now sounding rather arch) and, more recently, Soile Isokoski. This is repertoire for which Davidsen clearly has a natural affinity, and she’s not afraid to let the music speak for itself rather than imposing her will on it.
Time and again one wonders at the apparent ease with which the voice rides the waves of the full orchestra, and also the sense of focus it has in the more inward moments. The second and third songs, ‘September’ and ‘Beim Schlafengehn’, are particularly successful, with Nigel Black’s solo horn and Visontay’s violin respectively playing their part in creating a very special atmosphere. In the concluding ‘Im Abendrot’ one again misses that last degree of transparency and urgency that Charles Mackerras, for example, regularly brought to his Strauss performances with the same orchestra, but Ms Davidsen’s rapport with the music is constantly in evidence, and this is surely a performance that will ripen as her experience widens. If she paces herself as steadily as she has done so thus far, hers will certainly be one of the great Straussian and Wagnerian voices of our time, hopefully taking in some of the other great dramatic soprano roles of the repertoire along the way (a Fidelio at Covent Garden is already in prospect). In the meantime, listen to this disc and relish it: it bears witness to an already outstanding vocal talent.
Reviews
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