Lise Davidsen (soprano)
Beethoven, Wagner, Verdi
London Philharmonic Orchestra/Sir Mark Elder
rec. August 2020, Henry Wood Hall, London; October 2020, The Colosseum, Watford, UK
Texts and translations included.
DECCA 485 1507 [63:28]
The Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen is currently one of the ‘hot properties’ in the opera world. This is her second album for Decca and I was keen to hear it because her debut release had impressed me (review).
In the booklet essay she tells John Allison that, in constructing the programme, she sought to give listeners a taste of the career directions that she hopes to follow in the next few years. That said, there’s an element of looking back also: we learn that she sang the role of Santuzza for Norwegian National Opera in 2016 and the following year she took the title role in Cherubini’s Medea at the Wexford Festival, where she made a positive impression on my Seen and Heard colleague, José Irurzun (review). These are roles to which I’m sure she’ll return.
Definitely on her list of roles to reprise is Leonora in Fidelio. She sang this role at Covent Garden in March 2020. That run of performances was curtailed by the Covid emergency but not before a performance had been captured for television; the BBC broadcast was subsequently seen by Jim Pritchard who, not for the first time, was greatly taken with a Davidsen performance (review). This album opens with Leonora’s great Act I recitative and aria, ‘Abscheulicher!’ Ms Davidsen delivers the recitative with no little intensity. Though I wished her diction had been a bit clearer there’s no denying the impact of her singing. Moving into the aria, ‘Komm, Hoffnung’, her rich-toned singing is well-suited to Beethoven’s lyrical vein, and in the closing section of the aria Davidsen is resolute and dramatic. Yet, much though I admired what I heard I didn’t feel I was quite getting a complete picture. In the recording of the opera conducted by Claudio Abbado the Swedish soprano, Nina Stemme seems to me to be more ‘inside’ the role (review). I should say in fairness that Stemme was recorded during live performances at the Lucerne Festival so by the time she got to ‘Abscheulicher!’ it was in the context of the opera as a whole; she didn’t start ‘cold’ as Lise Davidsen does here. It was instructive, though, to turn to Otto Klemperer’s 1962 EMI studio recording. The Leonora is Christa Ludwig and, after listening, I looked up the review by my colleague Colin Clarke. I see that he describes Ludwig’s singing of ‘Abscheulicher!’ as “inspirational”. How right he is. Klemperer’s pacing of the recit is on the measured side but Ludwig makes every word, every note count (with some deliberate hardening of the tone on some low notes). In ‘Komm, Hoffnung’ she really engages the listener’s sympathy for the plight of the distressed yet dignified heroine. This is a magnetic performance which, for all their virtues, neither Davidsen nor Stemme matches.
Lise Davidsen continues with more Beethoven in the shape of the concert aria Ah! Perfido. She does this well. There’s intense regret in the opening recit, in which a high point is the melting delivery at ‘Ah no! Fermate,..’ In the ‘Per pieta’ section Ms Davidsen touchingly conveys the sadness. The sound of her generous voice is a delight in this lyrical music though, once again, I felt the words were sometimes indistinct. The final section, ‘Ah crudel!’ is sung with blazing commitment.
I will pass over the excerpt from Medea; it’s not an opera with which I have any familiarity so it would be unfair of me to judge the present performance. In the excerpt from
Cavalleria rusticana Lise Davidsen pours great feeling into Mascagni’s music for the despairing Santuzza. Her big, dramatic voice serves her – and the music – well here and I liked the poignancy with which she sings the final section, ‘Io son dannata’. Incidentally, this item features a cameo appearance by Rosalind Plowright in the role of Lucia.
Two Verdi items follow. First, Lisa Davidsen appears as another Leonora, this time the character in
La forza del destino. She begins to sing ‘Pace, pace mio Dio!’ from
a distance, approaching us as she delivers the first line. This is another
solo for a despairing lover and Davidsen brings it off well before unleashing the big, defiant ending. In a completely different vein is Desdemona’s prayer from
Otello. I admired the inward, hushed singing – the sound remains gorgeous even though the dynamics are consistently soft. Miss Davidsen here proves – if proof were needed – that she can fine down her big voice and deliver controlled, inward singing. It’s not clear to me from the booklet whether she’s yet performed either of these roles in the opera house – possibly not – but on this evidence they will suit her.
And so to Wagner. Her first album included two excerpts from Tannhäuser; this time she turns to Wagner in more intimate vein in the Wesendonck-Lieder. This is performed using the excellent orchestrations of the first four songs by Felix Mottl and Wagner’s own scoring of ‘Träume’. The first of the five songs, ‘Der Engel’ receives a fine performance in which I particularly admired some lovely soft high notes. ‘Stehe still!’ is turbulent early on but then the music relaxes, and in the passage beginning ‘Dass in selig süßem Vergessen’ Davidsen spins a beautiful legato line before she builds the song to its rapturous conclusion. The celebrated ‘Im Treibhaus’ is expressively done. The soft singing at ‘Wohl ich weiß es, arme Pflanze’ is perfectly placed and in the concluding passage, beginning at ‘Stille wird’s’ Davidsen’s singing is ideally withdrawn and expressive, supported by beautifully veiled orchestral playing. The concluding ‘Träume’ benefits from Innigkeit on the part of both singer and orchestra at the start and end of the song with suitable ardour in the middle of the piece.
So, there’s much to admire and enjoy in this account of the Wesendonck-Lieder. However, after my first hearing of the performance I was left with the feeling that, as in ‘Abscheulicher!’ there’s more to be found in this music. The obvious comparison to make was with the 1975 recording by Dame Janet Baker. Just like Lise Davidsen, Dame Janet benefitted from the presence of a wise conductor on the rostrum; Sir Adrian Boult did the honours on the Baker recording. It’s a while since I’ve listened to the Baker recording but it didn’t take me long to find what I was missing in the Davidsen performance. In ‘Der Engel’ Baker offers so much more than Davidsen in terms of expression and variety of vocal colouring. She communicates the words and music in a way that Davidsen, for all her accomplishment, doesn’t match. I had a similar experience with ‘Im Treibhaus’. As I’ve indicated, Lise Davidsen offers some very beautiful singing. However, even though some of her words are not ideally clear, Baker is in a different league. She gives a rapt, inward performance; the singing is utterly focussed and her soft singing is simply exquisite. Baker is also preferable when it comes to ‘Träume’. At the start of the song there’s a choice example of the intense, veiled soft singing which was such a Baker trademark. Later, the vocal colouring that Baker deploys at the words ‘Allvergessen, Eingedenken!’ is just to die for. In the last few lines of the song (from ‘Dass sie wachsen, dass sie blühen’) Baker is so perfectly controlled in her rapt delivery. I see that in his recent survey of recordings of the Wesendonck-Lieder Ralph Moore made the Baker/Boult recording his first choice. I have nothing like his experience of so many versions of Wagner’s set of songs. However, returning to this recording after some time away from it confirms its stature. The Davidsen recording is a very good one but the Baker account is a great one and the English singer finds things in the songs and conveys them in a way that Davidsen can’t yet match.
Though I found that I preferred other versions of the Beethoven aria and the Wagner songs, I must hasten to say that there’s much to admire and enjoy in this disc. Lise Davidsen has a glorious voice. Hers is already a major talent and I feel sure she’ll be one of the dominant soprano voices in her fach over the next couple of decades. I don’t think anyone buying this album will be seriously disappointed.
Inevitably, when one considers an artist-led disc such as this the focus is largely on the soloist. However, I must hasten to say that Lise Davidsen benefits greatly from the vastly experienced presence of Sir Mark Elder on the rostrum. He secures excellent playing throughout from the LPO and it’s noticeable how Elder is careful to differentiate the style of the orchestral playing. So, for example, the string sound in the Beethoven pieces is deliberately lean whereas a fuller orchestral palette is, of course, deployed in the Mascagni and Verdi items. Most admirable of all is the delicacy of the playing in the Otello excerpt and in the Wesendonck-Lieder. Throughout the disc Elder and the LPO contribute hugely to the ambience of every piece.
The engineering throughout the recital is excellent.
I’m afraid Decca’s booklet leaves much to be desired. The font used throughout is miniscule and in the end, I had to resort to a magnifying glass. The problem is compounded because someone in the design department has had the “bright idea” of using brown type on a beige background. When will some booklet designers realise that not all purchasers have 20/20 vision? As I said, this is an artist-led production but it does seem to me to be a bit discourteous to Sir Mark Elder and the LPO that they’re not even mentioned on the front cover, especially when their contribution is so distinguished.
Lise Davidsen’s many admirers need not hesitate and if you haven’t heard her before this album will give you an insight into why she already has such a big reputation.
John Quinn
Previous reviews: Margarida Mota-Bull ~ Ralph Moore
Contents
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (1770–1827)
‘Abscheulicher! Wo eilst du hin?’, from Fidelio (final version 1814) [7:22]
Ah! perfido, Scene and Aria for soprano and orchestra (1796) [12:05]
“Ah! perfido, spergiuro…” (Allegro con brio) [3:20]
“Per pieta, non dirmi addio!” (Adagio) [4:52]
“Ah crudel! tu vuoi ch’io mora!” (Allegro assai) [4:33]
Luigi CHERUBINI (1760–1842)
‘Dei tuoi figli la madre’, from Medea (1797) [4:17]
Pietro MASCAGNI (1863-1945)
‘Voi lo sapete, o mamma’, from Cavalleria rusticana (1890) [6:49] with Rosalind Plowright (mezzo-soprano) as Lucia
Giuseppe VERDI (1813–1901)
‘Pace, pace mio Dio!’, from La forza del destino (1862, revised version 1869) [5:53]
‘Ave Maria, piena di grazia’, from Otello (1887) [5:39]
Richard WAGNER (1813–1883)
Wesendonck-Lieder, WWV 91
I. Der Engel [3:09] Pieter Schoeman (violin)
II. Stehe still! [3:52]
III. Im Treibhaus [6:16]
IV. Schmerzen [2:26]
V. Träume [4:58]
