Lise Davidsen - Richard Strauss: Four Last Songs / Wagner: Arias from Tannhäuser (2019) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

A selection of Richard Strauss’s most-loved lieder and songs, and Elisabeth’s arias from Wagner’s Tannhäuser, the 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. She is winner of The World Opera Competition, Plácido Domingo’s Operalia (2015), winner of The Queen Sonja International Music Competition (2015), and Gramophone Young Artist of the Year (2018).

"Davidsen is no ordinary singer. Throughout the whole album one marvels at the voice, its easy grandeur and sheer size, its steely focus and security… The timbre has a default cool beauty but she can flood it with warmth to fill out a phrase magnificently. These gifts are matched by the maturity, honesty and integrity of Davidsen’s approach. This album only reinforces the fact that she is one of the greatest vocal talents to have emerged in recent years, if not decades." (Gramophone Magazine)

Tracklist:
1. Dich, teure Halle, grüß ich wieder
2. Allmächt'ge Jungfrau, hör mein Flehen!
3. Es gibt ein Reich
4. 1. Ruhe, meine Seele!
5. 2. Cäcilie
6. 3. Heimliche Aufforderung (Arr. Heger)
7. 4. Morgen!
8. 1. Wiegenlied
9. Malven, TrV 297 (Arr. Rihm)
10. 1. Frühling
11. 2. September
12. 3. Beim Schlafengehen
13. 4. Im Abendrot

Personnel:
Lise Davidsen, soprano
Philharmonia Orchestra
Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor