Lise Davidsen (soprano)
Live at the Met
James Baillieu (piano)
rec. live, 14 September 2023, Metropolitan Opera House, New York
Reviewed as a download
Decca 4870691 [53]

The Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen is at the time of writing singing Isolde in a new production at the Met. This followed immediately on from her first attempt at the role at the Liceu in Barcelona. Since hitting the headlines with her stunning Elisabeth in Tannhäuser at Bayreuth in 2019, many of us have yearned for her to sing Isolde. I wonder how long before she reaches the pinnacle and brings Brünnhilde before us.

Lise Davidsen made her New York Met debut a few months after that first visit to Bayreuth. She has sung eight roles for the house so far. In September 2023 she gave a solo recital to a packed house. It is that concert that Decca have released now, edited and incomplete but enshrining a memento of a very special late summer night in Manhattan.

I do have some issues with the re-ordering of the programme and for me the very first piece exemplifies this. Tosca’s ‘Vissi d’arte’ which Davidsen chose as her first encore at the end of the night comes first on the recording. It is just too much, though, as an opener. It’s too intense, too emotional; there’s too much passion for a starter. Davidsen has since sang Tosca for the Met, but at the date of the recital this would have been a well-received, if not unexpected encore. It is a little drawn-out and spotlighted but what else would we expect given its position at the end of the night (check out from the running order of the actual recital, at the end of the review, and see which two items preceded ‘Vissi d’arte’). No, for me I would start the CD at track 2 and perhaps program in the Tosca ariaat the end.

Amelia’s final aria from Un ballo in maschera suits Lise Davidsen admirably. In the opera, her husband Renato suspects her of adultery and tells her he will kill her. Amelia begs to see her son for one last time. This aria needs a strong, powerful yet sensitive femininity. Davidsen’s tone positively throbs. Listen to her messa di voce at “consolino I suoi baci” or hear the authentic grand manner at “Quest’ultimo favor”. Her lines are long and her breath control is secure. At the end of the aria, we should feel Amelia’s heartbreak and her sobbing. Verdi’s accents surely meant this. The cadenza at “Che mai più” is perfect and so touching. She floats those notes and her leap at “ah!” to C flat is superb.

Next, Decca offer up a sequence of four Strauss songs. We are missing her reading of Cäcilie, but what we have is very fine. These particular songs have always attracted the big voices. I took down from the shelves a favourite CD on the BIS label made by Birgit Nilsson in 1975. Here in Sweden at the age of fifty-six, Nilsson brings all her experience and resources to bear on these little gems. Davidsen enjoys the gorgeous Allerseelen almost as much as Nilsson. She brings her tone down, but you can still sense this is a huge instrument. I do miss those moving “wie einst in Mai” phrases from Nilsson all the same, and she is divine at “deiner süßen Blicke”, the voice refined and supported. Davidsen comes out on top in “Befreit” though. This famous song has such serenity and an Isolde-like, delirious bliss. Davidsen has the youthful bright bloom to the voice that Nilsson had lost by 1975. She is resplendent at the end of this noble song, her final “O Glück!” held down to pianissimo. Morgen is an opportune moment to extol the virtues of accompanist James Baillieu. The long piano introduction is sensitively rendered with fine touch. Davidsen’s instrument here is likewise shimmering and trembling: try “und auf dem Wege” and see if you agree. This song also features in its orchestral version in the recital Lise Davidsen made for Decca with the Philharmonia and Esa-Pekka Salonen in 2018 (review). There Zsolt-Tihamér Visontay’s violin solo accompaniment complements the dreamy tones of the singer incomparably. It is a silky-smooth account of the song. Here it is different, more real. Check out the way she projects “wogenblauen”, though. This is some of the finest singing to be heard in our time.

Three adorable songs from the pen of the young Franz Schubert are next. In Gretchen am Spinnrade we hear the innocent Marguerite driven crazy with her feelings for Faust as she spins. Davidsen’s limited yet all-encompassing experience of Senta (review) comes in useful here, voicing her inner turmoil and ravings at the wheel. It’s intense, but it works. In the famous Litanei with its refrain “alle Seelen ruhn in Frieden” we hear purity and beauty. Davidsen draws us in, becoming calmer and gentler in that final verse, dedicated to those souls who never smiled at the sun, those who suffered much. Lovely.

Next is Sibelius and that old BIS CD comes in handy again. The songs Lise Davidsen chooses are old classics again. Nilsson excels in them. Flagstad sang them too. I think the four songs in this group are my favourite pieces in the recital. Davidsen sings with a supreme confidence, capturing all the emotion of the first two songs magnificently. Her “Flickan kom” is brilliant. Listen to how she characterises those red hands, red lips and those pale cheeks and what about that “älskarns otro” at the end. She is equally 100% committed to the final song: Black Roses. I am so glad Decca did not cut any of these in their edit. They are indispensable. In truth I craved more Sibelius from her. I would love to have heard her give “Säf, säf, susa” or “Våren flyktar hastigt” for instance. Maybe next time.

After that wonderful group of Lieder and songs we come to the fun bit. She sings Sylva’s cabaret showpiece Csardas with long Senta-like “heia’s” and wicked agility. The joyful audience clap along. She gives us the famous number from My Fair Lady in impeccable English, of course. Her signature aria “Dich teure Halle” from Tannhäuser is a sure hit. This number was fired off just before the interval, sending those New Yorkers off for their interval drinks with something to talk about and no mistake! Here, it fulfils the role of being the big finish to the program. There is, though, an encore. In her native tongue, Lise Davidsen brings proceedings to a sublime close with Våren by Grieg. It is so beautiful and touching. Her voice spun out so tenderly for her full house of admirers.

There is a sense of intimacy which, I think, builds as you traverse the recital. This despite the fact we know there were 3800 seated at the Met that evening. Davidsen sings in Italian, German, Swedish, English and Norwegian. Her voice is in good shape. There are times you might say there is a slight wobble. I would call it more of a wibble. It bothered me slightly in that first “Vissi d’arte” but then never again. Since the recital at the Met, she has added roles in Forza, Tosca and Fidelio to her Met portfolio and of course now Tristan. I hear that next year she will sing Lady Macbeth in a new production there. I have never had the good fortune yet to see her live, but I treasure the records and follow her progress with interest and affection. Kudos to Decca for releasing the record. There was space to include more of the music (I have included the original programme below, after the disc’s contents). I guess they may have omitted the Grieg group due to overlap with an earlier release where she sang the songs accompanied by Leif Ove Andsnes (review). For what we do have let me say: Nehmt meinen Dank.

Philip Harrison

Contents
Giacomo Puccini
Tosca:  ‘Vissi d’arte’ Giuseppi Verdi
Un ballo in maschera: ‘Morrò, ma prima in grazia’
Richard Strauss
Zueignung
Allerseelen
Befreit
Morgen!
Franz Schubert
An die Musik D.547
Gretchen am Spinnrade, D. 118
Litanei auf das Fest Aller Seelen, D. 343
Jean Sibelius
Den första kyssen, Op. 37, No. 1
Var det en dröm?, Op. 37, No. 4
Flickan kom ifrån sin älsklings möte, Op. 37, No. 5
Svarta rosor, Op. 36, No. 1
Emmerich Kálmán
Die Csárdásfürstin, Act I: Heia, heia, in den Bergen ist mein Heimatland
Frederick Loewe
My Fair Lady, Act I: I Could Have Danced All Night
Richard Wagner
Tannhäuser, Act II: Dich, teure Halle
Edvard Grieg
Våren

Full recital program
Edvard Grieg
Der gynger en båd på bølge, Op. 69, No. 1
Til min dreng, Op. 69, No. 2
Drømme, Op. 69, No. 5
Dereinst, Gedanke mein, Op. 48, No. 2
Zur Rosenzeit, Op. 48, No. 5
Ein Traum, Op. 48, No. 6
Giuseppe Verdi
Morrò, ma prima in grazia, from Un Ballo in Maschera
Ave Maria, from Otello
Jean Sibelius
Den första kyssen, Op. 37, No. 1
Var det en dröm?, Op. 37, No. 4
Flickan kom ifrån sin älsklings möte, Op. 37, No. 5
Svarta rosor, Op. 36, No. 1
Richard Wagner
Dich, teure Halle, from Tannhäuser
-INTERVAL-
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Uzh polnoch blizitsya … Akh! istomilas ya gorem, from The Queen of Spades
Franz Schubert
An die Musik, D. 547
Gretchen am Spinnrade, D. 118
Erlkönig, D. 328
Litanei auf das Fest Aller Seelen, D. 343
Richard Strauss
Zueignung, Op. 10, No.1
Allerseelen, Op. 10, No. 8
Cäcilie, Op. 27, No. 2
Befreit, Op. 39, No. 4
Morgen, Op. 27, No. 4
Emmerich Kálmán
Heia, heia, in den Bergen ist mein Heimatland, from Die Csárdásfürstin
Frederick Loewe
I Could Have Danced All Night, from My Fair Lady
Encores
Giacomo Puccini
Vissi d’arte, from Tosca
Edvard Grieg
Våren

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