| For fans of German opera singer Edda Moser this album may come as a bit of a surprise. Edda was not a Wagnerian soprano. She sang the role of a Rhinemaiden in Das Rhinegold for Herbert Von Karajan as her operatic debut and she went on to sing Sieglende from Act 1 of Die Walkure but she was chiefly a dramatic coloratura soprano whose most successful repertoire was Mozart. Her dramatically rendered performances as the Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflote and Donna Anna in Don Giovanni were utterly brilliant, Her Elettra in Idomeneo and Aspasia in Mitridate were other triumphs for her. Her Mozart Concert arias won her praises from critics and fans worldwide. She was skilled at singing Baroque opera and Strauss operetta. The latter came easy to her since Strauss' Viennese operettas was music she had heard since her childhood as a native German speaker. In this recording, made in 1989 in Ljubljana, Maestro Anton Nanut conducts her in Wagner's most demanding soprano music in his catalog - the Immolation Scene at the end of Gotterdammerung, and the Liebestod of Isolde in Tristan And Isolde. Normally a Mozart singer would destroy herself singing such heavy repertoire. The tessitura is very high, and in addition the music calls for power in the lower notes, middle voice and chest voice. While Edda doesn't have bottom, she is certainly comfortable in the top registers. Her Isolde here is divinely beautiful, with excellent polished technique, and this is saying a lot about her since in 1989 when she recorded this, she had been singing for many years and was a veteran opera singer late in her career. Yet she sounds youthful and every bit the passionate Isolde. Her Liebestod as recorded in this disc is well worth listening and fans will be in for a treat. |
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