Search - Della Casa, Erede, Berliner Philharmoniker :: Lisa Della Casa Sings Richard Strauss

Lisa Della Casa recorded at the peak of her powers

09/21/1998

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have known this recording for 30 years. The transition to CD has improved what was not necessarily a perfect recording technically but it would be hard to beat the vocal achievement of Lisa Della Casa here, probably recorded at the peak of her powers.Be warned that once you have heard this recording you will find it difficult to listen to any other singer in the role of Ariadne, unless she is very good and also possesses the legendary seamless legato Della Casa demonstrates in these excerpts - which essentially make up the "whole Opera" component of the work.Not only is she radiant at the top of her register but displays the chest notes she was also famed for. The soaring lines are quite wondefully executed and the pathos is immense just as is the joy when Ariadne greets the God:Ich gruesse Dich, du Bote aller Boten!and if there is a beat in the voice here it merely adds to the pleasure. You will play this and many other parts of her singing here over and over again.Schock is another matter but not unacceptable however given the high tessitura Strauss demands.The Orchestra and other singers in the Ariadne are fine and generally well recorded.I am less keen on the songs, I have developed a taste for other singers in these, such as Hendricks, but nevertheless they are a testament to the more usual sound of Della Casa who did so much to popularise Strauss' Arabella, the 4 Last Songs and others during her extensive career. They are by no means indifferent interpretations but lack the utterly unique quality of her as Ariadne here."