MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2023
Approaching 60,000 reviews
and more.. and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


CD REVIEW

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

Availability
CD: Buywell

La Nilsson
Richard WAGNER (1813-1883)
Tannhäuser: Dich, teure Halle [4:50]
Die Walküre: Der Männer Sippe saβ hier im Saal [4:27]
Du bist der Lenz [2:15]
Lohengrin: Einsam in trüben Tagen [5:46]
Carl Maria von WEBER (1786-1826)
Oberon: Ozean! Du ungeheuer! [9:19]
Der Freischütz: Leise, leise [8:52]
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)
Fidelio: Abscheulicher! [7:19]
Ah, perfido! [13:36]
Birgit Nilsson (soprano)
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden/Sir Edward Downes
rec. Kingsway Hall, London, May-June 1963
Adolphe Charles ADAM (1803-1856)
O Holy Night [4:26]
Charles GOUNOD (1818-1893)
Ave Maria (arr. from Bach) [2:48]
César FRANCK (1822-1890)
Panis angelicus [4:06]
Franz Xaver GRUBER (1787-1863)
Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht [4:02]
Birgit Nilsson (soprano)
Åke Levén (organ)
rec. Stockholm, August 1963
DECCA ELOQUENCE 480 0901 [72:21]
Experience Classicsonline

Nearly all the items on this compilation have been released before in various incarnations - except Ah, perfido! which here receives its first issue on CD - but this is the first time they have been joined together as one recital.  It’s very satisfying and showcases Birgit Nilsson (1918-2005) in her strongest repertoire with some things you would expect, and a fair few that you wouldn’t.
 
This is Nilsson’s home territory, the German Romantics, but unusually most of the heroines represented in the arias are innocent girls, no warrior maidens or ice princesses.  Her Elisabeth in Dich, teure Halle is commanding and imperious, not young and naïve, while Nilsson makes a somewhat detached – some might say matronly – Sieglinde.  Elsa’s vision from Lohengrin is suitably other-worldly, though you get the impression she is about to eat her accusers alive!  So there’s little in the way of characterisation in these Wagner numbers, but as a sheer display of great singing it’s all pretty marvellous, and I’d have jumped at the chance to hear her live in any of these roles.  Ozean begins imperiously and rises to a mighty climax, while Agathe’s aria transports us into her own passion and anticipation: the conclusion to Leise, leise is truly ecstatic.  Nilsson gives a truly dramatic Abscheulicher, which then melts into a Komm Hoffnung of grand conviction, and she inhabits both the drama and tenderness of Ah, perfido! very convincingly.  Downes and the orchestra serve this music beautifully, with well-judged pacing and playing, but they know they’re not the stars and retreat so as to let Nilsson take centre-stage.  She is also supported by Decca’s characteristically excellent sound of the 1960s: over many years engineer Kenneth Wilkinson built up a close working relationship with Nilsson, not least in the Solti Ring, and she clearly saw him as a trusted colleague.
 
After the arias the sacred songs are rather less convincing.  Nilsson had an edge of steel to her voice which made her Isolde and Turandot so thrilling but really doesn’t work for O Holy Night.  Still, this is a highly recommendable compilation for anyone who wants a sampler of the great soprano’s work, especially at bargain price.  The booklet note contains some entertaining information about Nilsson’s life but very little about the music and no texts or translations.
 
By the way, La Nilsson is also the title of Birgit Nilsson’s autobiography: Sweden (1995) and Germany (1997). Northeastern University Press published the English language version in 2007 (ISBN-13: 978-1555536701).
 
Simon Thompson 


 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.