The Wagner Journal
On the Threshold: Matthew Rye listens to three vocal discs featuring leading singers at key junctures of their careers
On the Threshold: Matthew Rye listens to three vocal discs featuring leading singers at key junctures of their careers
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Reviews of Wesendonck Lieder, plus arias by Beethoven, Cherubini, Mascagni and Verdi, soprano Davidsen, mezzo-soprano Plowright, conducted Elder, London, 2020 (Decca, 1 CD); Live from Salzburg: Wagner Wesendonck Lieder, Mahler Rückert Lieder, mezzo-soprano Garanča, conducted Thielemann, 2020–21 (Deutsche Grammophon, 1 CD); Amata della tenebre: Liebestod (Tristan und Isolde), ‘Dich teure Halle’ (Tannhäuser), ‘Einsam in trüben Tagen’ (Lohengrin), plus arias by Strauss, Verdi, Cilea, Tchaikovsky, Puccini and Purcell, soprano Netrebko, conducted Chailly, 2020–21 (Deutsche Grammophon, 1 CD).
March 2022, Volume 16, Number 1, 84–6.
The flow of large-scale Wagnerian recordings has understandably been interrupted by the pandemic, for all the activity that has continued intermittently in the theatre and online over the past two years. Each of these discs, though, has been recorded since the world changed in early 2020, and between them these orchestral recitals showcase three of the most significant of today’s divas at various stages of engagement with Wagner’s operatic roles.