Lise Davidsen: Beethoven, Wagner, Verdi
£12.83
Usually available for despatch within 5-8 working days
Despatch Information
This despatch estimate is based on information from both our own stock and the UK supplier's stock.
If ordering multiple items, we will aim to send everything together so the longest despatch estimate will apply to the complete order.
If you would rather receive certain items more quickly, please place them on a separate order.
If any unexpected delays occur, we will keep you informed of progress via email and not allow other items on the order to be held up.
If you would prefer to receive everything together regardless of any delay, please let us know via email.
Pre-orders will be despatched as close as possible to the release date.
Label: Decca
Cat No: 4851507
Format: CD
Number of Discs: 1
Genre: Vocal/Choral
Release Date: 26th March 2021
Contents
Works
Ah, perfido!, op.65Fidelio, op.72
Artists
Lise Davidsen (soprano)Rosalind Plowright (mezzo-soprano)
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor
Mark ElderWorks
Ah, perfido!, op.65Fidelio, op.72
Artists
Lise Davidsen (soprano)Rosalind Plowright (mezzo-soprano)
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor
Mark ElderAbout
“It’s a one-in-a-million voice.” – Antonio Pappano
“Voices like hers come round once in a generation.” – ★★★★ Financial Times
“The voice of the century.” – ZDF Heute Journal
“A God-given instrument, used with sensitive artistry. To hear it alone is worth the price of any ticket.” – ★★★★ The Daily Telegraph
“A once-in-a-generation-voice” – Opera Magazine
“One of the greatest vocal talents to have emerged in recent years, if not decades.” – Gramophone
Sound/Video
Paused
-
1Beethoven - Absheulicher! Wo eilst du hin? (Fidelio)
-
2Beethoven - Ah! Perfido, op.65: Recitativo. Allegro con brio
-
3Beethoven - Ah! Perfido, op.65: Aria. Adagio
-
4Beethoven - Ah! Perfido, op.65: Allegro assai 'Ah crudel! crudel!'
-
5Cherubini - Dei tuoi figli la madre tu vedi (Medee)
-
6Mascagni - Voi lo sapete o mamma (Cavalleria rusticana)
-
7Verdi - Pace, pace mio Dio! (La forza del destino)
-
8Verdi - Ave Maria (Otello)
-
9Wagner - Wesendonck Lieder. 1. Der Engel
-
10Wagner - Wesendonck Lieder. 2. Stehe still!
-
11Wagner - Wesendonck Lieder. 3. Im Treibhaus
-
12Wagner - Wesendonck Lieder. 4. Schmerzen
-
13Wagner - Wesendonck Lieder. 5. Träume
Europadisc Review
There are few conductors working today with Elder’s knowledge and experience of the art of operatic accompaniment, and he and the LPO are in excellent form right from the word go. Sparks fly immediately in the opening bars of ‘Abscheulicher!’, with strings on their mettle and Davidsen at her most imperious, but her expressive capabilities are really shown in the aria itself, ‘Komm, Hoffnung’, where there’s a radiance that must have sent a tingle down the spine of anyone lucky enough to hear Davidsen in the theatre; the LPO horns excel themselves in their bracingly optimistic calls, a reminder that this ensemble is also the pit band for Glyndebourne. The concert aria Ah! perfido, to a text by Metastasio, inhabits a slightly earlier aesthetic (‘To me there’s something here of Mozart meeting Cherubini,’ says Davidsen), but there’s that same steely intensity in her performance, in a big-boned performance that takes no hostages, slipping effortlessly between classical elegance and full-on passion.
This leads neatly into ‘Dei tuoi figli la madre’ from Cherubini’s Medea (in the customary Italian version familiar from Callas rather than the French original), where Davidsen perfectly captures the intense hurt felt by the heroine at Jason’s betrayal, as well as the frightening inner resolve that will culminate in the opera’s later horrors. It’s a role that Davidsen has sung on stage, and it shows in this thrilling account.
The focus then shifts to the later 19th century, with Santuzza’s ‘Voi lo sapete’ from Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana, an achingly heartfelt performance that has one longing to hear more of Davidsen in the Italianate repertoire, and with a welcome cameo appearance from Rosalind Plowright, no less (herself a notable Medea in the past), as Lucia. Two Verdi extracts, Leonora’s ‘Pace, pace mio Dio!’ from La forza del destino and Desdemona’s show-stopping ‘Ave Maria’ from Otello, provide further evidence of Davidsen’s ability to capture a character’s vulnerability, yet whether in Leonora’s searing cry of ‘Fatalità!’ or the hushed prayerfulness of the ‘Ave Maria’, one senses that neither of these characters in this singer’s hands would be the pushover they can sometimes seem with lesser voices.
Finally to the composer whose music Davidsen seems most destined for – Wagner – though she’s sensible in pacing herself before taking on the more taxing heavyweight roles too early in her career, however well she might handle them now. With this in mind, she finds the ideal medium for the moment in the five Wesendonck Lieder: expressively expansive yet (most importantly) intimate in scale, even in their orchestral guise, and nowhere more so than in the gentle opening number, ‘Der Engel’. The second song, ‘Stehe still!’, is grippingly turbulent, while in ‘Im Treibhaus’ you can feel the dead weight of humidity in music that eventually found a home in the bleakness of Act 3 of Tristan. Davidsen and Elder bring out the pre-echoes of Strauss in the epigrammatic ‘Schmerzen’, while the pulsating strings and the overall sense of stillness in the concluding ‘Träume’ mark this performance as very special indeed. As throughout this disc, it’s the sheer range of Davidsen’s voice that leaves the listener struck dumb: its rich, creamy lower notes, its alert, pliant mid-range, and its soaring upper register. And the LPO’s playing in the Wagner in particular recalls the heady days of Klaus Tennstedt’s conductorship: that sense of Wagnerian style evidently lives on in the collective memory, and in them Davidsen has the ideal musical partners.
There’s a short but typically sensitive note from John Allison, clearly based on an interview with Lise Davidsen herself, and full texts with translation. The recordings, from London’s Henry Wood Hall and the Watford Colosseum, capture the voice to perfection, with just enough detail to the orchestral balance not to distract from the voice (and this is a voice that needs no favours from the balance knobs!). Unmissable, above all, for the Beethoven and Wagner that frame the disc, and tantalising for the Italian numbers, this second solo album from Ms Davidsen arguably exceeds the promise of her first. A must for all opera lovers!
Reviews
Error on this page? Let us know here
Need more information on this product? Click here