Following her album of Strauss songs with orchestra, soprano Diana Damrau – described by France’s Classica as “first and foremost a liedersängerin” and by The Times as “gifted in projecting drama and emotion … a peach of a singer”– turns to songs by Liszt in the company of distinguished pianist Helmut Deutsch.
Reviewing her Strauss recital, Classica went on to praise Damrau’s “sensitivity to words and capacity to sculpt the vocal line and adjust the intensity of the breath,” her “timbre of substance and constant desire to bring the text alive”, observing that “Damrau projects her text and finds a suitable colour behind each syllable”. Diapason, meanwhile, awarded the CD a Diapason d’Or and observed that: “More songs are waiting for a visit from this angel.”
In choosing to visit Liszt’s songs, the German soprano is venturing into repertoire that, perhaps surprisingly, remains for the most part outside the mainstream of recital programming. Over a period of 45 years Liszt wrote 70 or so songs, making two or more versions of over a third of them. Damrau’s collection includes his most frequently heard songs, written to German and Italian texts by, among others, Goethe, Heine and Petrarch. They include the three demanding and exalted Sonetti del Petrarca, the haunting fairytale ‘Die Loreley’, the evocative ‘Die drei Zigeuner’ (which reminds us of Liszt’s Hungarian blood), and the lyrical, wistful ‘O lieb, so lang du lieben kannst’, which was to become a ‘greatest hit’ for the composer in its adaptation for solo piano – Liebestraum No 3.
Diana Damrau’s particular chemistry as a recitalist was summarised by The Guardian in a five star-rated review after she appeared at London’s Wigmore Hall: “She is very much a diva, with all the intimations of greatness and excess the word implies. Her artistry is phenomenal yet paradoxical: you could perhaps describe her as the Meryl Streep of classical music, since she achieves a sense of total immersion in her material without ever quite letting you forget the powers of technique, intelligence and calculation that inform her singing.”
Artists: Diana Damrau / Helmut Deutsch
Works: Liszt Lieder: 1. Der Fischerknabe S 292b/2
2. Im Rhein, im schönen Strome S 272/2
3. Die Lorelei S 273/2
4. Die Drei Zigeuner S320
5. Es war ein König in Thule S 278/2
6. Ihr Glocken von Marling S 328
7. Über allen Gipfeln ist Ruh S306
8. Der du von dem Himmel bist S 279/1
9. Benedetto sia'l giorno S 270a/2
10. Pace non trovo S 270a/1
11. I vidi in terra angelici costumi
12. Freudvoll und leidvoll (1848) S 280/1
13. Vergiftet sind meine Lieder S289
14. Freudvoll und leidvoll (1860) S 280/2
15. Es rauschen die Winde S294/2
16. Die stille Wasserrose S 321
17. Bist du!
18. Es muss ein Wunderbares sein S314
19. O lieb S 298/2
By Post to:- The Woods, Sussex House, 17a High Street, Bognor Regis,
West Sussex PO21 1RJ
(If you haven’t got an order form please just use your own stationery)
We are happy to take orders by phone (we are here Mon - Sat 9.00am - 5.30pm)
you can dial either 01243 827712 or 01243 842615
By Fax on:- 01243 842615
Via e-mail to:- thewoodstcdc@yahoo.com
All items subject to availability.
Offer price for a limited period only.
Our lists are correct to the best of our ability but - owing to the vagaries of time, record companies and even us on occasion - may be subject to change.
If any details on a disc you order have changed since a list was posted on the site then we shall notify you before supply.
