Lise Davidsen Grieg Songs

Lise Davidsen's Grieg album with fellow Norwegian Leif Ove Andsnes on piano came out yesterday.  I am listening on the Amazon stream.  There are 28 tracks, and so far only two of them are familiar:  Op. 25 - 2. En Svane (The Swan) and Op. 5 - 3. Jeg elsker Dig! (I love you).  This whole album is very beautiful.  This is Lise's sweet voice.  For Wagner and Verdi she shows much heavier singing.

New Fidelio Recording

Conductor - Marek Janowski,

Leonore - Lise Davidsen,
Florestan - Christian Elsner,
Rocco - Georg Zeppenfeld,
Don Fernando - Günther Groissböck,
Jaquino - Cornel Frey,

My copy of Beethoven's Fidelio with Lise Davidsen came in the mail today.  I loved her in the Royal Opera production, but there were a number of things that didn't quite succeed.  The men's chorus here is perfection.  O Welche Lust is a beautiful piece, beautifully done here. It wasn't very attractive at the Royal Opera.  On the first disc the voices are well balanced.

And then we come to Florestan and his big aria.  I'm used to Jonas Kaufmann, whom I once described as "a Florestan to die for," and Ben Heppner.  This one is too light, particularly when paired with Lise Davidsen.  She lightens her performance a bit.  I love Lise too much to turn it down, and she is incredible here.  Later in the act she lets it rip, and the Florestan can't really balance with her.  He's not that bad.  He just doesn't come up to Lise's standard.  This opera is hard to cast.  Who has come along to follow Jonas?  

In general I find this enjoyable.

Lise's New Album

Lise Davidsen's new album is out, and I'm having a hard time thinking of anything to say.  Listen for yourself?

I chose this track because it is the thing I least expected.  I was thinking to criticize her Italian work, and then came this.  She is glorious beyond my wildest imagination.  Everyone who has experienced her live says you need to be there.  Go away stupid virus.  I'm doing all I can do.  If you wanted something serious and sensible, I apologize.  I follow opera for passion alone.

The recording includes Beethoven, Mascagni, Verdi, Cherubini and Wagner.  My son said it's amazing, like something from a bye-gone era.

Lise

I bought this so I could have some Lise Davidsen in the car.  On my car stereo it sounds spectacular.  I can still drive fine, but are driving and ecstasy compatible?  So what is the fuss about?  Her voice is big and extremely beautiful.  She seems to be able to bring sufficient weight into her singing while still achieving the color of a lyric soprano.  

My first reaction to a complete film with Lise:

• Barbara Baker

  This is what I love best about opera, that some day you will wake up and find that a wonderful new voice has come into your life.
  

There is much chatter on the internet comparing her to the other Scandinavian sopranos:  Kirsten Flagstad, Birgit Nilsson and Nina Stemme.  I don't hear them in her voice.  I hear something entirely new, big and with a certain bite to the tone.  I have already grown accustomed to it and love it very much.  She is smart and seems to be not at all in need of my advice.

Cecilia Bartoli Announces New Album -- Farinelli -- download now

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She is still singing very well.  Here is a full list of tracks for Farinelli:

1. ‘Nell’Attendere Mio Bene’ from Polifemo by Porpora
2. ‘Vaghi Amori, Grazie Amate’ from La Festa d’Imeneo by Porpora
3. ‘Morte Col Fiero Aspetto’ from Marc’Antonio E Cleopatra by Hasse
4. ‘Lontan… Lusingato Dalla Speme’ from Polifemo by Porpora*
5. ‘Chi Non Sente Al Mio Dolore’ from La Merope by Broschi
6. ‘Come Nave In Ria Tempesta’ from Semiramide Regina Dell’Assiria by Porpora
7. ‘Mancare O Dio Mi Sento’ from Adriano In Siria by Giacomelli
8. ‘Si, Traditor Tu Sei’ from La Merope by Broschi*
9. ‘Questi Al Cor Finora Ignoti’ from La Morte d’Abel by Caldara
10. ‘Signor La Tua Speranza… A Dio Trono, Impero A Dio’ from Marc’Antonio E Cleopatra by Hasse
11. ‘Alto Giove’ from Polifemo by Porpora
*Denotes a world premiere recording

The beard first appeared in her Salzburg performance of Handel's Ariodante.  The castrato Farinelli probably couldn't grow a beard, but never mind.  She is someone I love, and she looks great in her beard.  There's even a short film.  She begins with the Ariodante makeup and then switches to her own hair.



Farinelli was very popular in London during Handel's opera period.



Amazon tells me that I cannot receive my album until January, but in spite of that, I may listen now. I may also download now. The pieces on this album are mostly by Porpora, a wonderful Italian composer of vocal music who has slipped out of the repertoire. It is wonderful that we get to hear him now by way of la Bartoli.

Other composers include Broschi, Farinelli's brother. His first aria is rather low key for this era.

The sweetness and flexibility of her voice is still with us, as is also the complete originality of her interpretations. She loves this music and wants us to love it, too.

The final track, Alto Giove by Porpora, is the most well known of this repertoire and has a different orchestra accompanying it. Il Giardino Armonico led by Giovanni Antonini accompany most of the tracks, but the final one is accompanied by Les Musiciens du Prince with Gianluca Capuano. She must simply have loved this version. I love it too.

This one comes with visuals.

Vivaldi Part II

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Happy birthday to me.  This arrived just in time.  Thank you, dear.  The voice is as good as new.  Perhaps she is immortal, a goddess.  There is only one Bartoli. 

OMG.  Track 2 from Orlando Furioso is magnificent.  Spectacular phrasing.  Sigh.  She knows that it's all in the music.

The ensemble is completely with her.  They are Ensemble Matheus conducted by Jean-Christophe Spinosi. I hope you weren't expecting a regular review.

I wish you could see me smiling.
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Dmitri's Rigoletto

Conductor:  Constantine Orbelian

Rigoletto:  Dmitri Hvorostovsky, baritone
Gilda:  Nadine Sierra, soprano
Duke of Mantua:  Francesco Demuro, tenor
Sparafucile:  Andrea Mastroni, bass
Maddalena:  Oksana Volkova, contralto

This CD of Verdi's Rigoletto, I believe, is Dmitri Hvorostovsky's last recording.  It has been nominated for a 2018 Grammy.  It is a work I performed in my youth that stays in my heart.  I don't need help to keep track of the story, but a full libretto is provided.

You will want this for Dmitri.  Nadine Sierra is everywhere these days, and you may also want it for her.  Or you can listen on Amazon prime.
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Contrabandista

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I first saw Javier Camarena in Zurich about a decade ago in Carmen.  I like him very much and have DVDs of him in Rossini's Otello and Le Comte Ory.  In his Fach (leggiero tenor) he is the best today.  This CD is an homage to Manuel Garcia, the famous tenor who was the father of Malibran and Viardot.  This homage is like similar ones in that Javier performs works from Garcia's singing repertoire.  In addition he also performs works by him; in fact fully half of the tracks are by Garcia.  The ones that sound familiar are all by Rossini.

One of the Rossini tracks is a duet from Armida with Cecilia Bartoli.  This is charming.  The recording may be regarded as a tour de force.

Cecilia Bartoli is listed as Mentor on this album.  Her orchestra Les Musiciens du Prince accompany conducted by Gianluca Capuano.
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New Releases

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Cecilia Bartoli will release at the end of November a new second CD of arias by Vivaldi.  Here is a sample.






At the end of October Javier Camarena will release a new CD called Contrabandista which includes a duet with Bartoli.




This release by Jonas Kaufmann includes your choice of CD or DVD.  It's number one on the classical charts in Germany.

News

Congratulations to Jamie Barton for winning the BBC Music vocal prize for this album.  I reviewed it here.

Diana Damrau Meyerbeer

I bought Diana Damrau's new recording Meyerbeer Grand Opera because I am virtually unfamiliar with his work.  In 1988 I saw L'Africaine at the San Francisco Opera with Shirley Verrett and Placido Domingo.  I think this is the only Meyerbeer opera I have seen.

Diana is the perfect soprano for this album with her big voice and spectacular coloratura.  Meyerbeer was the principle composer of French Grand Opera, the dominant form of opera in the middle of the 19th century.  He focused on giant subjects suited for huge spectle.  She is the grandest diva we have today.

We have arias from 10 different operas in three languages.  There is pleasing variety.  For the lover of coloratura it is very highly recommended.

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Das Lied von der Erde

Anyone would want to sing "Der Abschied."  I used to play it in piano reduction even with my pathetic keyboard skills just for the joy of making this music.  It's one of the great things.  So it isn't hard to understand why Jonas Kaufmann would want to.  Perhaps he reads the idiotic comments where people tell him he's a baritone.  He isn't.

So this is sort of a stunt recording of Mahler's Synphony Das Lied von der Erde (1909).  It is important to remember that the expected voicing is tenor and alto.  I like Janet Baker.

Don't get the wrong idea.  I love Jonas Kaufmann, but I think it is the operatic dramatic tenor Jonas Kaufmann that I most love.  Here we have Jonas in his two most prominent incarnations:  Verdi tenor and pop song crooner.  Alternating.  His renditions of the tenor movements are great.  His renditions of the alto movements aren't.  He isn't a baritone because he doesn't achieve any intensity in the baritone tessitura, and he can't really do the low notes.  Sorry.  It's pleasant but not thrilling.

Die liebe Erde allüberall blüht auf im Lenz und grünt Aufs neu!
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All Who Wander

Jamie Barton won the Cardiff Singer of the World competition in 2013, including the Song Prize.  Then in 2015 she won the Richard Tucker Prize.  This cannot help but arouse ones curiosity.  So I bought her recording.

Mahler: [sung in German]

Rückert Lieder:
No. 1. Ich atmet' einen linden Duft
No. 2. Liebst du um Schönheit
No. 3. Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder
No. 4. Um Mitternacht
No. 5. Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen

Lieder und Gesänge aus der Jugendzeit, Book 2: No. 2. Ich ging mit Lust
Lieder und Gesänge aus der Jugendzeit, Book 1: No. 2. Erinnerung
Lieder und Gesänge aus der Jugendzeit, Book 3: No. 3. Scheiden und Meiden

Dvořák:  [sung in Czech]

Gypsy Songs, Op. 55, B. 104:
No. 1. Má píseň zas mi láskou zní
No. 2. Aj! Kterak trojhranec můj přerozkošně zvoní
No. 3. A les je tichý kolem kol
No. 4. Když mne stará matka zpívat, zpívat učívala
No. 5. Struna naladěna
No. 6. Široké rukávy a široké gatě
No. 7. Dejte klec jestřábu ze zlata ryzého

Sibelius:  [sung in Finnish]

Svarta rosor (Black Roses)
Säv, säv, susa (Reed, Reed, Rustle)
Flickan kom ifran sin alsklings mote (The girl returned from meeting her lover)
Kyssens hopp (Kiss's Hope)
Marssnon (The March Snow)
Var det en dröm? (Was it a dream?)

I suppose I enjoyed the Mahler most because I speak German and her diction is excellent.  And the Rückert Lieder are the most famous pieces on the album.  Some of the Dvořák also sounded familiar, but the Sibelius did not.

Why would you want this?  Because Jamie has one of the most beautiful dark mezzo voices I have ever heard, because she sings every song with great intelligence.  Every note is just as you would want it to be.  If you are charmed by beauty, listen to this.

Could we have more Mahler, please?
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Verismo is Here

Folks.  It doesn't get better than this.  Tony is also in top form.  I like best the schmaltzy ones.  I'm sure others will be able to find a lot of words,  but I just let my heart go where it wants.

I love Anna.  She is one of my favorite singers.  The reasons are many, but it has to have begun with her incredible charisma.  I'm a long timer--my first encounter was a live performance of Ruslan and Lyudmila in San Francisco in 1995.  I love the sound of her voice and think it only becomes more beautiful and her technique more spectacular.  With this album she is at her peak.  Her heart is always present in the music.  For this she will live forever.



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Kaufmann at La Scala

I have been listening to interviews of Jonas Kaufmann after his concert at La Scala Milan.  He reports that after the last number there was 40 minutes of applause.  In Italy.  At La Scala.  For a German tenor singing Puccini.  What an amazing honor.  Congratulations, Herr Kaufmann.

Nessun dorma the CD has arrived, and I like it very much.  He has included at least one number from each of Puccini's operas except Suor Angelica.  That would be difficult.  Puccini always sounds like himself.

I generally prefer the live versions of Jonas, but this is excellent.
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Semiramide CD

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My first encounter with Anna Bonitatibus was in 2005 in Zurich where she sang Sesto in Giulio Cesare. From that day to this I have admired her work.

And now comes this amazing CD titled Semiramide.  Until the moment it appeared I had no idea this character appeared in so many operas.  She is a legendary Assyrian figure, sometimes an Amazon, sometimes a queen, perhaps real, perhaps only a legend.  The selection of pieces covers the history of Italian opera, from Caldara to Manuel Garcia the elder, all are masterfully presented by this great singer.  It is good enough to win the Opera Award for CD operatic recital.
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CD of 27

If you're interested in modern opera, there is now a CD of Ricky Ian Gordon's 27, the opera about Gertrude Stein I flew to St. Louis to hear last summer.  It's an in performance recording.  All my complaints were about incongruities between the opera and real life.  In an opera what does that matter?
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Top Discs for 2014

Recommendations for discs are coming in at this time of year.  We start with recital discs:

Opera News:

The Year’s Top Twelve Recital Discs

• Ildar Abdrazakov, Power Players (Delos) 
• Cecilia Bartoli, St. Petersburg (Decca) 
• Nicole Cabell, Chanson d’Avril (Delos) 
• Max Emanuel Cencic, Rokoko (Decca) 
• Alice Coote, Handel Arias (Hyperion) 
• Sabine Devieilhe, Le Grand Théâtre de L’Amour (Erato) 
• Vittorio Grigòlo, The Romantic Hero (Sony) 
• Thomas Hampson, Notturno (DG) 
• Dmitri Hvorostovsky, The Bells of Dawn (Ondine) 
• Jonas Kaufmann, You Mean the World to Me (Sony) 
• Olga Peretyatko, Arabesque (Sony) 
• Anna Prohaska, Behind the Lines (DG) 

Classical Grammys:

• Douce France Anne Sofie Von Otter; Bengt Forsberg, accompanist (Carl Bagge, Margareta Bengston, Mats Bergström, Per Ekdahl, Bengan Janson, Olle Linder & Antoine Tamestit) Label: Naïve 
• Porpora: Arias Philippe Jaroussky; Andrea Marcon, conductor (Cecilia Bartoli; Venice Baroque Orchestra) Label: Erato 
• Schubert: Die Schöne Müllerin Florian Boesch; Malcolm Martineau, accompanist Label: Onyx 
• Stella Di Napoli Joyce DiDonato; Riccardo Minasi, conductor (Chœur De L'Opéra National De Lyon; Orchestre De L'Opéra National De Lyon) Label: Erato/Warner Classics 
• Virtuoso Rossini Arias Lawrence Brownlee; Constantine Orbelian, conductor (Kansas City Symphony Orchestra) Label: Delos 

BBC Music has its own awards:

• Strauss, Fauré, Debussy, Strauss: Die erwachte Rose; Mädchenblumen Op. 22; other lieder Christiane Karg (soprano), Malcolm Martineau (piano) Wigmore Hall Live WHLive 0062 
• An die Geliebte Songs by Beethoven, Strauss, Weber and Wolf Julian Prégardien (tenor), Christoph Schnackertz (piano) Myrios MYR012 
• Stella di Napoli Arias by Puccini, Bellini, Donizetti, Mercadante, etc Joyce DiDonato (mezzo-soprano); Orchestre et Choeur de L’Opéra de Lyon/Riccardo Minasi Erato 2564636562

In addition are suggestions for opera DVDs

Opera News:

• BACH: Johannes-Passion (Peter Sellars, Berliner Philharmoniker; Berliner Philharmoniker Recordings) 
• GLUCK: Orfeo ed Euridice (Ondřej Havelka, Baroque Theatre of Český Krumlov Castle; Arthaus Musik) 
• MOZART: Die Zauberflöte (Robert Carsen, Festspiele Baden-Baden; Berliner Philharmoniker Recordings) 
• R. STRAUSS: Elektra (Patrice Chéreau, Aix-en-Provence; BelAir Classiques) 
• WAGNER: Parsifal (François Girard, Metropolitan Opera; Sony) 

The Opera Awards:

• David et Jonathas (Charpentier), c. William Christie, p. Andreas Homoki (Bel Air Classiques) 
• The Gambler (Prokofiev), c. Valery Gergiev, p. Temur Chkheidze (Mariinsky) 
• Médée (Cherubini), c. Christophe Rousset, p. Krzysztof Warlikowski (Bel Air Classiques) 
• Moby-Dick (Heggie), c. Patrick Summers, p. Leonard Foglia (Euroarts) 
• Pelléas et Mélisande (Debussy), c. Stefan Soltesz, p. Nikolaus Lehnhoff (Arthaus) 
• The Rape of Lucretia (Britten), c. Paul Daniel, p. David McVicar (Opus Arte) 
• The Tempest (Adès), c. Thomas Adès, p. Robert Lepage (DG) 

It is interesting the complete lack of overlap in these lists, except for Stella di Napoli.

Christmas Presents

This Kaufmann album of songs from German operettas would probably make good presents.  I very much prefer the far more serious Winterreise, but I am not really an average person.

This Netrebko album will be out in time for Christmas.  You can preorder now.

If your friends love Baroque, this Jaroussky album is the one.

Or perhaps they would like Baroque from an entirely new perspective.

For the lover of bel canto you will need Joyce DiDonato.

The Met didn't produce much this year so I recommend these Rossini albums.  I even liked the productions.  One is comedy and the other tragedy.

If your heart is only for Kaufmann, this is the best of the Verdi year.

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You Mean the World to Me

Now that I have this CD with Jonas Kaufmann, I must say it's an enormous surprise.  For instance, some of the tracks are in English, and one is in French.  My German is good enough.  Four tracks have films.

But the biggest surprise is how wonderfully corny it all is.  I grew up on corny music, not the exalted works of classical music, and respond well to this.  After all, I was in 40 performances of Der Vogelhaendler.  I'm smiling.  There's no one like him.

YouTube films of some of these operettas:

Gräfin Mariza: 1958 film, Morbisch Festival 2004
Paganini:  Franz Lehár 1942 Full Operetta (audio only)
Das Land des Lächelns:  Fritz Wunderlich (audio only)
Giuditta:  Franz Lehar, Giuditta, Stratas, Schock
Die Blume von Hawaii:   Die Blume Von Hawaii (1933)

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