Search - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz [Vienna] Schubert, Antonin Dvorak :: Schubert, Mozart, Dvorak, Mahler, Strauss: Lieder / Lucia Popp

Schubert, Mozart, Dvorak, Mahler, Strauss: Lieder / Lucia Popp
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz [Vienna] Schubert, Antonin Dvorak
Schubert, Mozart, Dvorak, Mahler, Strauss: Lieder / Lucia Popp
Genres: Pop, Soundtracks, Classical
 
  •  Track Listings (22) - Disc #1

This is a recording to enchant both ear and heart. Lucia Popp's voice is bright but warm, pure, perfectly controlled; her intonation is impeccable, her phrasing poised, leisurely, elegant. Though a distinguished opera ...  more »

     
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Amazon.com
This is a recording to enchant both ear and heart. Lucia Popp's voice is bright but warm, pure, perfectly controlled; her intonation is impeccable, her phrasing poised, leisurely, elegant. Though a distinguished opera star, she brings to these songs a wonderful immediacy and simplicity, identifying with mood and character without overdramatizing or exaggerating, and inflects and colors her voice only for expression, never for effect. Her program, recorded live at two different recitals, is varied and imaginative and includes several unfamiliar songs, such as four "Canzonen" by Schubert, sung in Italian, and three songs by Dvorák, two of them from the cycle Cypresses, which he later arranged for string quartet, sung in Czech. Unfortunately, the producers apparently expect the listener to be equally multilingual and provide no texts or translations. However, Popp can put a smile, a tear, tenderness, love, ghostly dread, and ardent ecstasy into her voice, giving it an eloquence beyond words. Her pianists are admirable, though Gage's playing in the Mahler songs is too fussy, and in Strauss's "Morgen!" the violin obbligato is sadly missing. --Edith Eisler
 

CD Reviews

Another treasure from a much loved, much missed musician
10/07/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)

"The world lost a beautifully unique and uniquely beautiful voice when Lucia Popp passed away. Anyone who loves Popp simply must have this CD. She sings Lieder by composers associated with her -- Mozart, Strauss, and Mahler. Yet my favorite tracks are the three Dvorak songs, sung with such pain and intensity. My only reservations of this CD come from the fact that these are live recordings, meaning that there is audience noise (not too much), and (most annoyingly) applause after each set of songs. Also, the pianists are rather distantly balanced. But no matter -- I love this CD all the same, and anyone who loves Popp will also love this CD too."