Lise Davidsen (soprano)
Live at the Met
James Baillieu (piano)
rec. live, 14 September 2023, Metropolitan Opera House, New York, USA
Decca 4870691 [53]
Lise Davidsen’s live New York recital has been eagerly anticipated on CD by some fans. Perhaps it was built up too much in the advertising because the final product leaves this reviewer a trifle disappointed. In his well-written and glowing review of the download version of this album, which appeared on MWI several weeks ago, Philip Harrison detailed how Universal has chopped up the order of the concert and redistributed the items on the disc. I heartily agree with Philip that the Tosca aria which opens the disc is simply too much of an emotional crest at the outset. Surely the producer would have thought of this or perhaps we degenerated into a “give’em what they want and get it over with” mentality.
Davidsen has a great vocal gift; any soprano who can project such gleaming tone throughout an auditorium will always be most welcomed by the audience. Birgit Nilsson, another Decca artist with whom Davidsen has been compared, often learned just how difficult her powerful voice was to capture in the recording studio. One only has to view the film The Golden Ring which shows extensive footage of Decca’s recording sessions for Georg Solti’s recording of Götterdämmerung. Nilsson’s scenes show how, every time she reached above a certain note, she would have to arch her back away from the microphones (which were placed already at some distance) in order to avoid overloading them. On this recording some sixty years later, I find that Davidsen’s voice often takes on hardness above the staff, which makes for uncomfortable listening. I have no doubt that this wasn’t the case if you were in the house for the performance. Indeed, the audience applauds enthusiastically for each section of the program; perhaps just a little too much of audience reaction has been left in for home enjoyment. No, the blame here resides in the placement of the microphone before the singer. The album center-spread unfolds to reveal a large photo of Davidsen acknowledging her audience. It shows quite clearly just how closely placed the microphone was to her. There will be many who would disagree with my view on this but I think I will not be alone in thinking that the soprano’s voice has been rather fiercely captured on this occasion.
As to the program, in many cases the Lieder come off the best of all. The Schubert items are beautifully done, although, just like in ‘Vissi d’arte’, listening to Gretchen am Spinnrade is rather wearying. It is all just too intense with a pushed-up level of hysteria, with the microphone again the main culprit. The best items on the disc are the sequence of songs by Sibelius and Grieg; this is natural territory for Ms Davidsen, and her singing brings a glow to these pieces. Their wide vocal range and the freedom of Sibelius’s musical language are really well-suited to her talents. Var det en dröm?, simply delivered, is an absolutely exquisite experience in sound. The Strauss items are also delivered with passion and poise. The pauses in Morgen seem to be too long, if the listener’s attention is not to turn to thoughts of “when will the next phrase resume?”
Among the other items, the aria from Tosca is projected with such feeling that one longs to have a complete recording of this with Ms Davidsen – perhaps Decca will oblige us with one. I do not feel that the aria from Un ballo in maschera is a good match for Davidsen, despite her splendid tone. Her powerful voice rather seems to overwhelm the musical line of this slow, almost elegiac scene; but the fault for this may again rest with the recording itself. On a more positive note, it is good to have a version of the aria from Tannhäuser, in which Davidsen is actually fully warmed-up, coming at the end of her recital, rather than in the opera itself, where it is the very first thing out of the soprano’s mouth.
The two lighter items are well contrasted; the big aria from Die Csárdásfürstin is enormous fun. Davidsen clearly enjoys having the audience clapping along in time just before she reaches up to a stunning top B. She also manages to have fun with “I could have danced all night” which one might recall Birgit Nilsson doing for the party gala sequence on Herbert von Karajan’s blockbuster Die Fledermaus in 1960. Like Nilsson’s, Davidsen’s accented English is quite charming but the rather slow tempo with which pianist James Baillieu draws it out pleases me not at all. The disc concludes with Davidsen refining down her tone quite softly for an elegant version of Grieg’s Våren. While I do find some treasurable moments here, ultimately I feel the pleasures of this disc are of a decidedly mixed variety. Decca did far better for Davidsen two years ago with their classy release of Christmas in Norway (review).
Mike Parr
Previous review: Philip Harrison
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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
