Strauss: Lieder - Poesie / Diana Damrau

Diana Damrau / Münchner Philharmoniker, Christian Thielemann

Strauss: Lieder

Gramophone Awards Finalist 2011 - Solo Vocal Recording
Wholenote Discoveries - April 2011
Poèsie features the orchestral songs of Richard Strauss throughout which Diana Damrau’s flawless voice soars transcendently all the while sustaining enormous depth of emotion. She really makes the most of the atmospheric changes and seemingly infinite range of colour with which Strauss infuses his songs. It is breathtakingly expressive even when Damrau drops to a pianissimo passage. Strauss considered his temperamental wife Pauline the ideal interpreter of his songs and the only one to whom he would entrust the intimate raptures of songs like Morgen and Allerseelen. Perhaps he would reconsider if he were with us today to hear this singer who seems to understand the ever-shifting nuances of his work so well. Christian Thielemann is in top form leading the Munich Philharmonic. Dianne Wells
Soprano Diana Damrau, described by The Sunday Times as “the most dazzling star to have emerged from Germany in recent years” was born in Bavaria. The region’s capital, Munich, was the birthplace of Richard Strauss, and in March 2009 a programme of the composer’s songs was presented at the city’s Gasteig Philharmonie, with Damrau accompanied by the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra under its Chief Conductor, Christian Thielemann. “Strauss loved female voices,” says Damrau, “and he explores some extreme possibilities in these many-layered songs, each with its different point of view. Sensitivity to the words is vital to telling the story of each song, to capturing the rapid changes of mood and all the colours.” Strauss’ operatic roles for lyric-coloratura soprano, notably Zerbinetta (Ariadne auf Naxos), Aithra (Die Aegyptische Helena) and Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier) have played an important role in Damrau’s career. As Opera News wrote when reviewing her last Virgin Classics album, ‘Coloraturas’: “Zerbinetta … is one of Damrau's calling cards, having served for her stupendous Met debut in 2005. ‘Grossmächtige Prinzessin’ provides every opportunity to dazzle the listener, with stratospheric high notes, staccatos, roulades and trills, as Zerbinetta cajoles, berates and mocks the gloomy Ariadne. Every note and word reveals Damrau's artistry, the result of constantly questioning and probing into the composer's intentions; while the soprano has a knack for concealing or highlighting technical difficulties at will, here just enough self-absorbed delight breaks to the surface that we are as captivated by Zerbinetta's own theatrical skills as by Damrau's vocal athleticism. Damrau/Zerbinetta even seems to be commanding the orchestra's responses to her whimsical, moody outbursts. This is a performance of transcendent art.” On the new CD, favourites such as ‘Ständchen’, ‘Wiegenlied’, ‘Allerseelen’, ‘Cäcilie’ and ‘Zueignung’ feature alongside more rarely heard numbers, and six tracks recorded under studio conditions now complement the sixteen songs captured live. The concert reviews suggest the treat in store for lovers of the soprano voice, Strauss’ songs and his magnificent writing for orchestra.

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