Capriccio is probably my favourite opera - certainly it's up there. The final scene is maybe the most beautiful solo scene that Strauss ever wrote, and Renée Fleming has made a speciality out of presenting it in concert. I don't believe anyone has ever sung it better. I have often recommended before on my videos the CD entitled Strauss Heroines which Fleming recorded in 1998 with the Vienna Philharmonic and Christoph Echenbach, all three on top form. The Capriccio scene as recorded there is about as spectacularly perfect as anything Fleming committed to disc and has to be heard to be believed. Sung live in concert seven years later, this might be my favourite of her live performances that I have heard of this glorious music, Strauss' final soaring paean to the soprano voice and his farewell letter to opera.
I am in heaven listening to Renee Fleming's voice soaring into my house-- filling me with rapture. She is magnificent. Thank God for being able to repeatedly listen to her over and over!!!
Lohengrin O there"s so many bits I love. 5:55 to the bit you mention, and then 13:00 to the end - those smiling ironic phrases the violins sigh downwards, and then the final minute, where everything dissolves: the music, the opera, the world. A miracle.
Agree that this is some of the most ravishing music Strauss ever wrote. Also agree it requires the vocal fullness that Schwarzkopf never had. Two of my faves in this are Anna Tomowa-Sintow (a video lives here on YT) and the always controversial for different reasons Viorica Ursuleac. This performance is outstanding in every way. Love it. Again, none of the usual mannerisms that ruin so much of her singing.
The other thing that dawns on me is the dearth of top flight Strauss sopranos at the moment. Not long ago people were lamenting the dearth of Verdi sopranos. Well, now we have neither. Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong. But if I am in the right, I don't think I have ever experienced a drought of this magnitude. What do you think?
Yes, now that Fleming is retired from the standard repertoire, there's really not many. Soile Isokoski has done lovely things, though is maybe not an artist for the ages, and isn't exactly a stage animal. I have loved the very weird voice of Anne Schwannewilms when I have seen her live - totally sui generis delivery - completely separate registers, flute like top notes, you feel like she is constantly managing a fundamentally very odd instrument, but she has done some truly beautiful things, and is a very expressive, precise and understated interpretive artist. Again, it's not singing for the ages but I have to admire quirkiness and expressivity of that level. Not sure how she's sounding today. As for Verdi and Wagner... yeah not sure. And Mozart... hmmm. I have heard several young voices here in the UK that I am hopeful of and would love to direct in productions, but on the international scene it's tricky. Janai Brugger did a lovely turn as Pamina a few years ago at the ROH, but it's not a role I find that interesting... I would like to see her as Donna Anna or Countess.
Great moments of opera Yes and glad I am not the only one sensing the dearth. Isokoski has retired so no longer current. I gave Schwanewilms a chance but I am done with her. If you watch a live concert performance from 2014 of Elektra with her as Chrysothemis you will realize she has no volume in her. Horrendous! Realize that this was filmed under ideal conditions and still she could not produce the necessary volume. Same for Meier as Klytämnestra. About a month ago Schwanewilms gave a Liederabend in NY which mysteriously was not reviewed either in the NYT or the Post. The silence told me everything I needed to know. In other words, they didn't review it, not because of reduced critical coverage, but likely because they could not write positively about her. The recital had been announced days earlier in the NYT with a sense of anticipation. There was not even word about it in the usual chat rooms. It must have been that bad. So to summarize, the dearth is worse than we realize or are willing to acknowledge.
Onigbajamo That may be but we are discussing the present and not potential that may or may not pan out. So, in circular fashion, the problem is far more serious than is acknowledged. It's the proverbial elephant in the room.
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Capriccio is probably my favourite opera - certainly it's up there. The final scene is maybe the most beautiful solo scene that Strauss ever wrote, and Renée Fleming has made a speciality out of presenting it in concert. I don't believe anyone has ever sung it better. I have often recommended before on my videos the CD entitled Strauss Heroines which Fleming recorded in 1998 with the Vienna Philharmonic and Christoph Echenbach, all three on top form. The Capriccio scene as recorded there is about as spectacularly perfect as anything Fleming committed to disc and has to be heard to be believed. Sung live in concert seven years later, this might be my favourite of her live performances that I have heard of this glorious music, Strauss' final soaring paean to the soprano voice and his farewell letter to opera.
I am in heaven listening to Renee Fleming's voice soaring into my house-- filling me with rapture. She is magnificent. Thank God for being able to repeatedly listen to her over and over!!!
audrey sky glad you enjoyed it. There are loads of other rare live Fleming recordings on my channel.
1:38 !! and then at 10:40 Heavens open and God descends and kisses Richard Strauss' head
Lohengrin O there"s so many bits I love. 5:55 to the bit you mention, and then 13:00 to the end - those smiling ironic phrases the violins sigh downwards, and then the final minute, where everything dissolves: the music, the opera, the world. A miracle.
Agree that this is some of the most ravishing music Strauss ever wrote. Also agree it requires the vocal fullness that Schwarzkopf never had. Two of my faves in this are Anna Tomowa-Sintow (a video lives here on YT) and the always controversial for different reasons Viorica Ursuleac. This performance is outstanding in every way. Love it. Again, none of the usual mannerisms that ruin so much of her singing.
Glad you enjoyed it. It's pretty special I think.
Great moments of opera It is indeed
Let alone the dearth of Mozart and Wagner sopranos
The other thing that dawns on me is the dearth of top flight Strauss sopranos at the moment. Not long ago people were lamenting the dearth of Verdi sopranos. Well, now we have neither. Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong. But if I am in the right, I don't think I have ever experienced a drought of this magnitude. What do you think?
Yes, now that Fleming is retired from the standard repertoire, there's really not many. Soile Isokoski has done lovely things, though is maybe not an artist for the ages, and isn't exactly a stage animal. I have loved the very weird voice of Anne Schwannewilms when I have seen her live - totally sui generis delivery - completely separate registers, flute like top notes, you feel like she is constantly managing a fundamentally very odd instrument, but she has done some truly beautiful things, and is a very expressive, precise and understated interpretive artist. Again, it's not singing for the ages but I have to admire quirkiness and expressivity of that level. Not sure how she's sounding today.
As for Verdi and Wagner... yeah not sure. And Mozart... hmmm. I have heard several young voices here in the UK that I am hopeful of and would love to direct in productions, but on the international scene it's tricky. Janai Brugger did a lovely turn as Pamina a few years ago at the ROH, but it's not a role I find that interesting... I would like to see her as Donna Anna or Countess.
Great moments of opera Yes and glad I am not the only one sensing the dearth. Isokoski has retired so no longer current. I gave Schwanewilms a chance but I am done with her. If you watch a live concert performance from 2014 of Elektra with her as Chrysothemis you will realize she has no volume in her. Horrendous! Realize that this was filmed under ideal conditions and still she could not produce the necessary volume. Same for Meier as Klytämnestra. About a month ago Schwanewilms gave a Liederabend in NY which mysteriously was not reviewed either in the NYT or the Post. The silence told me everything I needed to know. In other words, they didn't review it, not because of reduced critical coverage, but likely because they could not write positively about her. The recital had been announced days earlier in the NYT with a sense of anticipation. There was not even word about it in the usual chat rooms. It must have been that bad. So to summarize, the dearth is worse than we realize or are willing to acknowledge.
Onigbajamo That may be but we are discussing the present and not potential that may or may not pan out. So, in circular fashion, the problem is far more serious than is acknowledged. It's the proverbial elephant in the room.