Christine Schaefer: Arias

Christine Schäfer (soprano) Deutsches Symphonieorchester Berlin, Julien Salemkour

Bellini: Ah, non credea mirarti (from La Sonnambula) Bizet: L'Arlesienne Suite No. 1: III. Adagietto Handel: Semele: O, Sleep Why Dost Thou Leave Me? Messiaen: Ah! Dieu nous éblouit par excès de Vérité from Saint François d'Assise Schoenberg: 5 Orchestral Pieces, Op. 16 - Farben Strauss, R: Sein wir wieder gut (from Ariadne auf Naxos) Morgen mittag um elf! (from Capriccio) Thomas, Ambroise: Raymond Overture Je suis Titania (from Mignon) Verdi: Nei giardin del bello saracin ostello 'Veil Song' (from Don Carlo) Ave Maria (from Otello)

The acclaimed soprano Christine Schäfer is making her label debut for Sony Classical with a highly unconventional aria album. The arias she has recorded range in time from Handel to Messiaen, and in style from virtuosic belcanto to the drama of Verdi and the serenity of Richard Strauss. Christine Schäfer’s first-ever recital of operatic arias is a carefully composed musical essay that combines popular and lesser-known works. This highly personal programme is no selection of greatest hits, but a journey of adventure in search of musical beauty. In the manner of a resounding essay Schäfer takes well-known but intentionally diverse pieces from the Baroque period to the present and relates them to each other in unexpected ways. Seductive as they are on their own, in this changed context each seems to have been illuminated anew. The orchestra, the Deutsches Symphonieorchester Berlin under Julien Salemkour is the singer’s artistic counterpart and peer, and can shine in a variety of roles.

Price: $19.98