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TRACKLISTING Giacomo Puccini Richard Wagner Richard Strauss CD 2 814 Jean Sibelius: 7 Songs Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden · Wiener Philharmoniker · Orchestra dellAccademia di Santa Cecilia, Roma · Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper · London Symphony Orchestra · Wiener Opernorchester John Pritchard · Argeo Quadri · Edward Downes · Thomas Schippers · Lorin Maazel · Sir Georg Solti · Hans Knappertsbusch · Herbert von Karajan Virgilio Carbonari · Walter Berry · Gerhard Stolze |
RECORDING INFORMATION Swedish soprano Birgit Nilsson is one of the handful of singers who can truly be described as legendary. Widely celebrated for her portrayals of the most challenging of all soprano roles, she is, perhaps, best known as the Brünnhilde on Solti's definitive recording of Wagner's Ring cycle. From the early 1950s when she appeared mainly in her native Sweden, Nilsson soon established a reputation as one of the greatest dramatic sopranos of her generation and the greatest Wagnerian soprano since fellow-Scandinavian Kirsten Flagstad. In demand by the worlds greatest opera houses throughout her career, which lasted through to the early 1980s, Nilsson's international success was not limited to Wagner. Her repertory also embraced many dramatic roles by Verdi and Puccini in operas which included Macbeth, Aida and Turandot. Nilsson was, perhaps, at her greatest in the operas of Richard Strauss a superb Salome, and few would question her supremacy in what is possibly the most demanding of all soprano roles Elektra. During the latter part of her career she also added the role of the Dyers Wife in Die Frau ohne Schatten to her repertoire of stage roles. The Decca recordings included in this 2-CD set (Two-for-One price) were all recorded within eight years (just the excerpt from the Deutsche Grammophon Die Frau ohne Schatten is later) and they all present Nilsson in magnificent voice. The programme also includes, for the first time on international CD, the selection of Scandinavian songs originally released on LP as Songs from lands of the midnight sun. Although retired from the operatic stage for some twenty years Birgit Nilsson is still part of the operatic scene and regularly attends competitions and helps young singers. Always famous for her amazing vocal stamina, she shows no signs of slowing down as she approaches her 85th birthday on 18 May 2003. The album takes its title from the heroic aria from Verdi's Aida (included on the disc). |
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