This
extensive 10 disc boxed set is part of EMI’s Icon line - a series of
which I am becoming a very big fan. This respect and affection has
increased with every new set I have become acquainted with. The present
collection, like the others, includes a broad selection of songs and
arias from widely dispersed dates. One can learn a good deal about
post-war singers from listening to some of these albums including
figures such as Giuseppe Di Stefano, Tito Gobbi and Franco Corelli.
The
present album ranges principally across the music of Bach, Mozart,
Schubert, Wolf, Strauss, Puccini, Wagner and Rossini. Recording dates
are included throughout and the album is organised with songs from the
same composer being together even if the recording details are
decades(!) apart. This allows for some interesting comparisons.
The
discs are organised in broad categories: Mozart Lieder/Concert Arias,
Mozart Opera Arias, Wolf Lieder and so on. CD 10 is a mixture of arias
which would not quite fit into the other more compartmentalised
selections. Most of the discs have programmes that are varied enough so
that you can enjoy listening to them in one complete sitting.
Alternatively there’s the opportunity to jump about to the dictates of
your own choice - there are, as you can see, many tracks on each disc. I
am going to discuss just the CDs I find most interesting but I believe
that the strengths and criticisms I highlight are stand for all the
content.
The marriage of text and music was
always a particular talent of Elisabeth Schwarzkopf with a special
intelligence evident in her records. Having said that, I believe the
balance shifted somewhat throughout her career. If we listen to CD5
there is a mixture of dates from 1950, 1951, 1954, 1956 and 1959 through
1965-1968 and as late as 1970 and 1974. Track No.1 - 'Auf Flugeln des
Gesanges' Op 34 No.2 by Mendelssohn - finds Schwarzkopf at near her peak
form in 1956. The words and music are allied in an ideal mix providing
tonal pleasure and clarity of words; consequently their meaning is
nicely communicated. Moving on through tracks 2-7 from 1974 I find the
results a little disappointing. In the Schumann songs the musical line
disappears altogether with the words over-emphasised. Add to this the
extent that the voice is not allowed to ring out - the introvert nature
of the music a factor here - and the shift from 1956 to 1974 does not
seem a change for the better. The voice, or what you can hear of it,
sounds in quite good fettle if a little looser and less shining than two
decades years earlier; hardly surprising! The trajectory is so typical
of intelligent artists as they age; somewhat over-compensating for any,
sometimes slight, decline in vocal opulence. There are many examples.
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Jon Vickers, as they got older, became more
fussy regarding diction and phrasing. Their earlier recordings provide
the more 'straightforward' rich-toned-singing. Their later recordings
were more 'mannered' if sometimes providing fresh insights.
Another
Schumann song from much earlier in Schwarzkopf's career - 'Auftrage'
(Track 8) - from 1951, an extrovert piece, enjoys a tonal beauty greater
than any of the 1974 set. I say this even making concessions for the
earlier mono sound. The words seem no less clear or the interpretation
less intelligent. I find the works from the early/mid 1950s the most
satisfying of all with the exception of really wonderful sessions in
1970 . The rapport with Gerald Moore makes their recordings especially
cherishable in all the repertoire they perform - Schumann, Brahms, Grieg
Dvorák and more on this CD alone. In 'Widmung' (9 on CD5) the voice is
captured in clear stereo sound and the singer is in excellent form. The
diction and phrasing are perhaps more fussy than some would find ideal
but I enjoy hearing the singer's tone still sounding youthful. Brahms is
a composer who draws the very best from Schwarzkopf as the 1960s
progress into the 1970s. Tracks 12-16 enjoy more refulgent tone than the
Schumann records. The folk-song influence on 'Der Jager' brings a
joyful and smiling performance and the years seem to fall away - the
voice could be mistaken for 1954 (the date of Track 11) not 1970!
Geoffrey Parsons is an excellent accompanist - in Track 16 really
charming and flexible. The lack of texts is unfortunate but with the
generous selection included it would quickly have out-grown the
cardboard box. I enjoy the Grieg songs from 1968 less than those from
1970 which are incidentally from the same session as the excellent
Brahms selection (Tracks 12 -16). 'Ertes Begegnen' (Track 23) is the
highlight of this CD for me. Before this review becomes interminable I
must move onto other discs.
CD 3 is a special
joy for it showcases Schwarzkopf in Mozart opera arias from the very
beginning of her career (1946-1952). Karajan is an exceptionally fine
accompanist from arguably the finest period of his career: c.1946-1956.
'Matern aller Arten' is an early recording (1946) but it shows off
Schwarzkopf in a role which is very demanding. Arguably she lacks the
impact of delivery which made Maria Callas and Joan Sutherland's
recordings so dramatic but the voice is projected with far more drama
than Rothenberger or some other contemporaries. The sound is rather
limited but well enough re-mastered. Schwarzkopf sounds just as
idiomatic in Italian as Cherubino as Fiorenza Cossotto on the complete
set with Giulini. Arguably her voice had the ideal weight for the
youthful role at that point in her career. 'Porgi, amor' sounds fresher
and fuller than in the complete set from around seven years later. It is
a classic performance from one of her great roles; indeed she was one
of the greats in the post-war generation. 'Dove sono' is beautiful if a
little studio-bound compared to the stereo set. Schwarzkopf sounds at
her absolute best in 'Non mi dir'. So odd to think that Callas at her
biggest and the voice at its darkest and heaviest also sang this aria
for Walter Legge only a year later. This shows the variety of voices
that can find success in the grateful roles Mozart created for his prima
donnas. A short excerpt from the 1962 Cosi fan tutte with Bohm is
included on CD 10 . I might have picked from the 1954 Karajan set
instead but this is really splitting hairs given the success of the
recording.
CD 6 is a complete concert of Lieder
from Hugo Wolf recorded live in 1953 with Wilhelm Furtwängler at the
piano. A historic collaboration if ever there was one!
Among
the most grateful roles for soprano voice are those of Richard
Strauss's Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier - which is included in
extended extracts with Karajan and Christa Ludwig - or the operetta
roles essayed on CD 9. Schwarzkopf promptly steals the show in all these
performances and it helps that they were all recorded in her absolute
prime. The quality of conductors and colleagues must have made other
sopranos of the time - or indeed most sopranos of any era! – envious
indeed.
I cannot begin to cover all the variety
of songs and arias here in the detail they rightly deserve - I can only
wholeheartedly endorse this set and hope that as a result you may at
your leisure become acquainted with it.
This is certainly a very special collection of lieder, opera and operetta from one of the great post-war sopranos.
Complete tracklist : Elisabeth Schwarzkopf - Perfect Prima Donna
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