Lise Davidsen (soprano)
Beethoven, Wagner, Verdi
London Philharmonic Orchestra/Sir Mark Elder
rec. 2020, Henry Wood Hall, London (Beethoven, Cherubini, Wagner); Watford Colosseum (Mascagni, Verdi)
Texts and translations included.
Track details beneath review.
DECCA 4851507 [63:28]
Every organ in the musical world has been falling over itself to trumpet the arrival of a superstar in Lise Davidsen. I am less inclined to hail her as the Second Coming and would like to present my own reaction as one of modified rapture. I wonder, too, whether as a result of our recent deprivations maybe folk are getting a bit desperate for some good news - and not just in an operatic world increasingly devoid of great voices.
There is no doubt that this is a large, imposing voice with fearsome top notes but she has some mannerisms which bother me, and some of the things she does are arguably both technically and artistically questionable; nor, strangely, do I actually find myself responding instinctively or viscerally to her intrinsic sound the way I do to my favourite singers. She tends to “pounce and squeeze” notes in an ungainly manner, so a note will be held without vibrato then swelled until the heavy vibrato is brought in at the end, which can become repetitive and wearisome as a habit. While she is certainly capable of fining down her voice to sing softly, I often find her application of sudden, almost screamed, loud notes clumsy; there is quite a lot of “soft, then loud, then soft again” which for me bespeaks a certain artistic immaturity which will perhaps be remedied as her career and interpretative skills develop; after all, she is in singer’s terms still a relatively young performer. I remarked upon these characteristics of her singing in my review of her debut album and as far as I am concerned, those observations apply equally here. I must report honestly as I find and am content to be a fairly lonely voice.
The opening aria is from what has become Davidsen’s signature role and she attacks “Abscheulicher!” bracingly – but hold on, why does her lower register disappear on “in wilden Grimme”? A lyric dramatic soprano must have penetrating and dependable low notes and hers do not resonate properly as do those of singers such as Christa Ludwig in the role. Why do “Komm” and “Liebe” in the “Komm Hoffnung” section wobble and pulse? She rises to a very loud and thrilling top B but it shakes a bit and is not hit head on. Her second, climactic top B is another stunner – but why does she slide up to it? - and so it goes: a fine, arresting passage then something slightly awry. Yes, I am being picky here but that it because I am playing devil’s advocate and reacting to the assertion that she is already a complete and flawless artist.
The start of “Ah! perfido” will certainly jolt anyone dozing out of their seat but if Ms Davidsen had been in one of her Masterclasses, Maria Callas would certainly have had something to say about her mushy, consonant-free Italian. The lack of heft on the low B-flat “morirò” at the end of the middle section reminds me again that her lower register is undeveloped and accounts for some harshness – a lack of roundness, if you will - in her top notes, as there is a reciprocal relationship between developing both ends of a voice. The beat comes and goes but she gamely ensures that she is virtually always making, or intending to make, a lot of volume. In an age when too many singers have mosquito-sized voices, this is a welcome thing, but I do not think we are listening to a fully developed singer and with talk of her singing Isolde within a few years already in the air, I fear for her endurance.
For me the Cherubini aria is the ultimate test of the poise and control a singer must possess in order to sing this most classical aria in the correct style – and as far as I am concerned, Ms Davidsen fails it miserably. Some bellowed loud, high notes do not compensate for the beat and shriek in the voice, and the lack of colour and a steady line; one gets absolutely no sense of Medea as a woman straining every fibre to rein in her rage and pain in a last-ditch attempt to appeal to her faithless lover’s sense of decency. Again, Maria Callas would have had stern words and provided much-needed guidance on how to make both the text and the spare melodic line dignified but quivering with repressed passion; the aria should sound as if it had been written by Gluck, but as it is, with her gulping and pulsing, Davidsen channels Elektra.
It is quite a leap from there to Santuzza but at least verismo is tolerant of, and even welcomes, Davidsen’s gutsy, unbuttoned style, so this is a much more successful assumption of a role which better suits her temperament – but once again the lower register is weak and, sadly, that once fine artist Rosalind Plowright as a wobbly Mamma Lucia does not sound as if she has much voice left.
The opening messa di voce of the aria from La forza del destino is striking but I wonder how much its effect is via knob-twiddling as, whereas the orchestra is very present, the singer sounds very distant in the sound-picture and is then brought into much closer focus. It was at this point at first listening that I realised that every character Davidsen portrays here sounds exactly the same and a lot of that has to do with the strong, persistent vibrato and unrelieved forte singing which do not leave much room for interpretative nuance. As you might expect, the final held note is a scorcher.
It is a brave young singer who undertakes Desdemona given the number of famous predecessors in that most demanding of Verdian roles – Rethberg, Tebaldi, Freni and Margaret Price have all excelled in it - especially as Davidsen’s voice seems better suited to grandeur than pathos. Again, although she certainly sings more softly and even tenderly here than anywhere else in this recital, Davidsen cannot quite suggest Desdemona’s heart-broken fragility and other-worldly quality her music evokes. However, she does some nice things, not least another beautifully controlled messa di voce on the final “Amen”, where she swells the note then skilfully effects a quick diminuendo.
The last item here is the Wesendonck Lieder. I completed a fairly extensive survey of those songs, posted just before this recital album came out so I could not include in it my assessment of Davidsen’s account of them. Good as it is, nothing about it compels me to make it a first choice over those I have already recommended. I find Davidsen’s pulsing vibrato a tad heavy, and her manner quite aggressive – although interestingly, at the climactic close of “Stehe still”, large as her voice is, something goes wrong with the balance and the orchestra almost drowns her out. Mostly, she sings out grandly and bravely, but you will seek in vain for the kind of subtlety in her delivery of text that similarly large-voiced, Wagnerian singers such as Eileen Farrell and Jessye Norman provide; a lot of the first two stanzas of “Stehe still” are almost shouted and the top G on “in die Luft” in “Im Treibhaus” is devoid of rapt stillness – although she does much better with the prolonged, floated “süßer Duft.”. Her colouring of words can be strange, too, such that the voice does not sound integrated; listen to example to the last on the album, “in die Gruft”, in “Träume”, which are harshly intoned. Then again, the top A-flat on “Glorie” in “Schmerzen” is pretty impressive; I guess what I am looking for is more consistency and an “inner” rather “applied” quality to her singing. Until that happens, she will not be among my preferred interpreters of these songs.
Mark Elder and the LPO provide terrific support – the horns in particular cover themselves in glory and their playing in the Mascagni excerpt is notably sumptuous, as is the meltingly beautiful accompaniment to Desdemona’s aria.
As a footnote, I am puzzled that the names of Cherubini and Mascagni are not considered worthy to appear on the cover, unless it is simply that their inclusion would have made the title of the album too long – but why not simply call it “Operatic arias”?
I am well aware that I am going out on a limb here – but there it is.
Ralph Moore
Previous review: Margarida Mota-Bull
Contents
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (1770–1827)
Abscheulicher! Wo eilst du hin?, from Fidelio (final version 1814) [7:22]
Ah! perfido, Scene and Aria for soprano and orchestra (1796) [12:05]
“Ah! perfido, spergiuro…” (Allegro con brio) [3:20]
“Per pieta, non dirmi addio!” (Adagio) [4:52]
“Ah crudel! tu vuoi ch’io mora!” (Allegro assai) [4:33]
Luigi CHERUBINI (1760–1842)
Dei tuoi figli la madre, from Medea (1797) [4:17]
Pietro MASCAGNI (1863-1945)
Voi lo sapete, o mamma, from Cavalleria rusticana (1890) [6:49] with Rosalind Plowright (mezzo) as Lucia
Giuseppe VERDI (1813–1901)
Pace, pace mio Dio!, from La forza del destino (1862, revised version 1869) [5:53]
Ave Maria, piena di grazia, from Otello (1887) [5:39]
Richard WAGNER (1813–1883)
5 Gedichte für eine Frauenstimme “Wesendonck-Lieder”, Text by Mathilde Wesendonck
I. Der Engel [3:09] with solo violin by Pieter Schoeman
II. Stehe still! [3:52]
III. Im Treibhaus [6:16]
IV. Schmerzen [2:26]
V. Träume [4:58]
