Soprano Lise Davidsen created a feeling as Lenore at a London staging of Beethoven’s”Fidelio” ahead of the stunt cut its conduct brief, but her remarkable voice will be available to everyone on her brand new album of tunes by Beethoven, Wagner and Verdi
To start her new record, the Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen revisits the function that supplied her latest operatic triumph.
It is a wise selection for this diverse collection of arias and songs. Since Leonore, the spouse decided to spare her imprisoned husband in Beethoven’s”Fidelio,” Davidsen produced a feeling at London’s Covent Garden ahead of the series was cut short by the pandemic one year ago.
Her voice moves effortlessly from outrage into tranquility to epic resolve. And during the aria she shows the mix of power and innocence that in age 34 have left her distinctive one of the sopranos.
The identical command of mood affects marks her performance of Beethoven’s concert aria”Ah!
The latter reveals her comfy in verismo land, infusing a little Sicilian warmth to her cool, Nordic sound.
Both Verdi functions represented here would be the only ones that she hasn’t sung on stage and they’re a study in contrasts. Leonora’s”Pace, pace mio Dio” from”La Forza del Destino,” is a car for a stunning voice, and also the large B-flat shout in the conclusion is suitably chilling. At Desdemona’s”Ave Maria” from”Otello,” Davidsen scales her voice to attain some amazing effects — such as how she starts the last syllable of”Amen” softly and gradually raises the volume to elicit her distress.
The soprano switches gears to the last third of this album together with Wagner’s five star”Wesendonck Lieder,” tunes he wrote while still working on”Tristan und Isolde.” In reality, two of those tunes contain themes where he elaborated in that particular opera.
Wagner composed the tunes for piano accompaniment and afterwards summoned among these,”Träume” (“Dreams”). Others are observed in variations orchestrated by Felix Mottl and performed with the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Mark Elder.
For most listeners those performances is going to be the record’s main attraction, because Isolde is a part Davidsen intends to continue in a couple of decades. Inspired by her shimmering singing here, it’ll be well worth the wait.