Wagner: Wie lachend sie mir Lieder singen (from Tristan und Isolde) (Isolde’s Narrative and Curse)

Birgit Nilsson. Richard Wagner. It was an operatic marriage made in heaven that lasted for over twenty years and, thanks to recordings, continues to thrill music lovers around the world. She sang her first Wagnerian part in Stockholm. It was Senta in Der fliegende Holländer. It was greeted rapturously and throughout her long career it was for her Wagner and Strauss roles that she was most noted. Many of the greatest recordings of music dramas and operas by these composers have featured her, and many appear on Decca. However, she also made two Wagner records for Philips – one with Leif Segerstam in 1974 of extended scenes from Walküre and Parsifal, another, in 1972, with Colin Davis of the Wesendonck-Lieder and extracts from Der fliegende Holländer, Rienzi and the little-known early Wagner opera, Die Feen (The Fairies). Also included are scenes from Tristan und Isolde, one of her great calling cards and of which she made at least two live recordings, one studio recording with Georg Solti, and another of scenes (with Grace Hoffman as Brangäne) with Hans Knappertsbusch.

Nilsson’s voice had the clear, silvery sound that seems to be characteristic of Scandinavian singers. It was rock solid, encompassed over two octaves, and was perfectly even, top to bottom. It was also enormous. Especially in the upper part of the voice it could take on a laser-like quality that simply sliced through the densest orchestral sound and speared listeners to the backs of their seats. That meant the great moments of a Wagnerian opera were truly monumental – a surging orchestra and a soprano who dominated everything, combined into an overwhelming climax as Wagner must have heard in his dreams.

Here is a snapshot of some of those great moments, captured on record, and bringing together three complete LPs – two made for Philips (Segerstam, Davis) and one for Decca (Knappertsbusch).

These recordings were made on 9 and 11 May 1952 and document the latter part of Kirsten Flagstad’s career. They were made a few weeks before her 57th birthday, thus at a time when most sopranos will have been forced to move into ‘character fach’, the Norwegian soprano however, was still in almost full command of her incomparably rich voice, even after a demanding career spanning over three decades. These recordings of two concerts given at the Berlin Titania-Palast, with the Orchestra of the Municipal Opera, are particularly noteworthy: on the one hand, the Wagner songs sound fresher and more present than in the recording made four years later under Knappertsbusch; on the other, the Berlin live-recording of the Strauss songs is technically far superior to the recording made in London. In May 1950 Kirsten Flagstad had given the first performance of the Four Last Songs by Richard Strauss, at the request of the composer. A tribute to her unique status was also the multitude of her concert engagements: During the course of her career, she sang more than 80 roles in around 2100 performances and also gave approximately 250 concerts with orchestra and 600 recitals.