Strauss, R: Ich wollt ein Sträusslein binden, Op. 68 No. 2

“Always there is delicacy and an absolute respect for the silky legato that Strauss demands from his soloist. Damrau finds drama in these songs too...the songs that demand diamond-bright coloratura, runs and trills to affright a Zerbinetta hold no terrors...Thielemann has a very special affinity with singers. He also coaxes some fine playing from the Munich orchestra.” International Record Review, January 2011

“What wins this disc the five stars are the facts that Damrau, singing in her native German, is poised ideally between dreamy haze and Schwarzkopfian fussiness...her hallowed pianissimos allow the exquisite detail Thielemann draws from his Munich players to shine...the ineffable balance between voice and orchestra, subtly assisted by the engineering, is a treat throughout.” BBC Music Magazine, February 2011 *****

“Secure in technique, gifted in projecting drama and emotion, Damrau is a peach of a singer...The haunting music; the lyrical voice; the orchestra’s dappled array, with woodwinds curling like climbing roses and violins wafting with fragrant perfume: poesie indeed, in small doses.” The Times, 28th January 2011 ****

“With a creamy-voiced soprano such as Renée Fleming, say, the results could be an excess of musical cholesterol, but Damrau’s diamantine timbre brings a welcome edge to the mix...She’s the leading Strauss soprano of the day, and her singing here shows exactly why.” Sunday Times, 30th January 2011 ****

“her voice is not ideally voluptuous for Strauss, but she makes up for it by her exceptional musicality, investing every song with meaning, and her clarity of diction. The Munich Philharmonic under Christian Thielemann are splendid partners on a CD that must now be regarded as the best modern introduction to Strauss's songs” Mail on Sunday, 30th January 2011 ****

“Her singing is consistently accurate and expressive. I particularly liked her 'Traum durch die Dämmerung', which caught the atmosphere of a secret tryst perfectly...She joins the group of younger sopranos such as Angelika Kirchschlager and Anne Schwanewilms among the leading lyric Strauss singers of the day.” Sunday Telegraph, 30th January 2011 ****

“she is not merely a fair-weather soprano. Darker shades, more serious tones lie within her expressive scope than one might at first suppose...Familiar songs such as "Ständchen" gain new life with a smiling intimacy of approach in the first verse and an enriched suggestiveness as dusk falls in the third.” Gramophone Magazine, March 2011

“there are performances of such favourites as Morgen, Allerseelen and Wiegenlied, where her hovering, silvery soprano is heard to perfection...Not all the orchestrations are by Strauss: Christian Thielemann and the Munich Philharmonic really bring home just how marvellous his own instrumentation sounds when placed beside that of some of the other composers” The Guardian, 10th February 2011 ****

“When did a German coloratura soprano last handle Richard Strauss’s orchestral songs with such grace and aplomb?...Damrau’s artistry is a combination of vocal noblesse, emotional warmth and instinctive intelligence.” Financial Times, 19th February 2011 ****

“This gloriously romantic collection of orchestral settings of Strauss’s songs... shows [Damrau] at her stunning best. Outstanding tracks include Amor, with its airy, witty coloratura, and a magically slow yet gloriously alive Wiegenlied. The accompaniments, as might be expected from Thielemann’s baton, are quite superb.” The Telegraph, 25th February 2011 *****

“These songs demand a variety of vocal weights and colours, and Damrau seems to have it all...Thielemann and the Munich Phil revel in the rich orchestral colours and can be as light as air when required...Damrau brings effortless technique, beautiful tone and unfailing musical instinct to these songs.” Classic FM Magazine, April 2011 *****

“Creamy and pure, Royal's voice is directly in the aristocratic line of Kiri Te Kanewa and Reneé Fleming” Gramophone Magazine

“This CD represents something of a triumph not for one young artist but for two. ENO's new music director, Edward Gardner, conducts the accompaniments, with the Academy of St Martin's on fine form. Kate Royal matches him precisely. Each item is beautifully vocalised, but she too is alert to detail. In the Ravel Vocalise en forme de habanera, she finesses her tone and colour and even her pitch to give us the sensual, Spanish, hot-summer-afternoon feel of the piece. In Delibes's Les filles de Cadix, her trills are a delight, but so is the immediacy of her response to the rhythms.” BBC Music Magazine, September 2007 *****

“Royal’s voice is just sublime; rich, warm and pure, it is able to be both lightly playful in Canteloube’s “Malurous qu’o uno fenno”, and languorously dreamy in Strauss’s “Wiegenlied”...What really sets her apart, though, is her ability to get under the skin of a song’s lyrics to take on their emotions...Royal is much more than just a beautiful voice. This is music and singing to savour.” Charlotte Gardner, bbc.co.uk, 31st August 2007

“Strauss singing doesn't come much better than this. No doubt the composer himself, with his love of the soprano voice, would have been enthralled by Isokoski's glorious singing. He might also have approved of Janowski's straightforward, quite brisk conducting as he was never one to sentimentalise his own music. With a combination of free, unfettered tone, not a hint of strain in high-lying passages, a fine legato and an amazingly long breath, Isokoski fulfils every demand of her chosen songs. To those attributes she adds just a hint of quick vibrato, which she uses unerringly to expressive purpose throughout.
Add the depth of feeling she brings to inwardly emotional pieces such as Befreit, Ruhe meineSeele! and, above all, Morgen!, a perfect realisation of this oft-recorded piece, and you have performances to rival any of the greats of the past.
She reminds one most of Lisa della Casa, the first soprano to record the Four Last Songs, and Sena Jurinac. She has the same smiling timbre, the same natural style, the same avoidance of wallowing in music that contains its own proportion of sentiment. Try the ecstatic execution of the final verse of 'Beim Schlafengehen' and you'll understand. If, on the other hand, you prefer a more leisurely approach, there are always Janowitz and Karajan.
Janowski is obviously at one with his soprano, not only here but also in Zueignung. Refined playing from the Berlin Radio Symphony and an open recording complete the pleasure.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Lott was still at her peak when these recordings were made in 2002, and has a background of great affinity with the Strauss muse...Her voice and phrasing are still at their glorious finest, and so is her partnership with Johnson. The result is a magical recital, naturally recorded.” Gramophone Magazine, October 2012

“With Johnson's charmingly modest and unfailing attendance, this is a recital peppered with exquisite moments of Olympian power and heroic breath control from Lott. These qualities give the lie to the fact that her remarkable voice is into its sixth decade! It is almost ideal for Strauss here: warmly lyrical, clear, lithe and sensuously intoned, majestic in its dynamic and emotional colourings.” MusicWeb International, August 2012

“Gruberova, at the peak of her career, is a technically superb and perceptive interpreter in this extensive 1991 selection, matched by Haider's accompaniment. His original notes and translations are sadly lacking.” BBC Music Magazine, November 2009 ****