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The celebrated dramatic soprano Rosa Ponselle singing ‘Morgen’ from Strauss’s Four Last Songs lieder.
Ponselle was 57 years old when this was recorded. Retired from the stage and public singing, but still with a gorgeously rich middle voice intact and very subtle and moving musicality.
Dame Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, who would have been 98 on the 9th of December, in her most celebrated role, the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier with Herta Topper. Today is a day to be thankful for the wonderful recorded legacy that La Schwarzkopf has given to us.
(1961)
The best Marschallin, the best Countess and one of the finest and most intelligent musicians in operatic history.
Kiri Te Kanawa in Capriccio
The great Spanish Diva Montserrat Caballe singing one of my all-time favourite scenes in opera, the finale to Richard Strauss's masterpiece Salome.
One of the most electrifying moments of theatre in any opera. The petulant, deranged teenage Princess Salome infatuated with the recently executed Jochanaan (John the Baptist) has ordered that his severed head be sent to her. Upon being presented with it, Salome hysterically proclaims her love and kisses the head on the lips, provoking her father Herodes to order her execution, fearing the superstitious repercussions of Salome's gesture.
Musically it's a perfect discourse on the undulations of madness. The tempo shifts between the utter extremities of insanity, indicating Salome's delusions, hysteria, twisted malice into the sinister, seductive musical portions, where Salome basically flirts and tries to exert herself sexually on the decapitated head, such is her irreparable irrationality. A genius indication in the score by Strauss is the low Gb3, that is almost unprecedented and requires a contralto-like extension in the lower register, which truly makes this role formidable. It's the culmination of Salome's mad scene, the deep plummet down into obscurity, where she has become almost demonic in her insanity.
Caballe has long called this her most favourite role, and it is probably the role where she goes for broke entirely. She manages to convey Salome's sudden outbursts of greed, child-like tantrums with massive explosions of spinto power, and also portrays the devious, precociously sexual elements with beautifully shaded lines and exquisite pianissimo.
It's a true vocal exploratory of a sick, disturbingly damaged but utterly fabulous character.
American Dramatic Soprano Jessye Norman singing the beautifully tranquil lieder piece 'Wiegenlied' by Strauss,
Gorgeously layered performance from the diva. Lovely smooth lines complimented by a organic, earthy texture in the middle voice. It's such blissful, relaxing vocal artistry.
