Mozart: Crudele? Ah no, mio bene! ... Non mi dir, bell'idol mio (from Don Giovanni)

In her second recording as an exclusive Virgin Classics artist Diana Damrau interprets concert and operatic arias by Mozart in a programme which displays her virtuosity and impressive vocal range.

Indeed Diana Damrau’s new recital shows she can sing practically all of Mozart’s notably varied soprano roles – ranging from the bravura (Donna Anna, Konstanze, Donna Elvira…) via the more serious (Pamina) to the lighter soprano (generally soubrette roles such as Susanna, Blonde…).

From her first recording everyone noted her outstanding Queen of the Night – here she is Pamina (in New York’s Met last Fall, Diana Damrau alternated the two roles with brio). She is also Susanna and the Contessa (Le Nozze di Figaro), Konstanze and Blonde (Die Entführung), Donna Anna and Elvira (Don Giovanni), Servilia and Vitellia (La Clemenza di Tito), pairing major soprano roles within the operas, and concert arias.

As for her first recital, ‘Arie di bravura’, French conductor Jérémie Rhorer, who is rapidly gaining international recognition, directs his French period-instrument ensemble Le Cercle de l’Harmonie

Annelies Kupper was incomparable and was one of the last lirico-spinto sopranos of the German-speaking world. She began singing at the Munich State Opera in 1946 and remained a member of the ensemble for 20 years. She was particularly associated with the works of Mozart, Wagner and Richard Strauss.

No singer at the Vienna State Opera or elsewhere has been as closely associated with the title role in Strauss's Arabella as Lisa Della Casa, who celebrates her 90th birthday on 2 February 2009, and yet we should be guilty of doing the Swiss soprano a grave disservice by reducing her repertory to this one role alone.This point is well illustrated by an impressive portrait of the singer that is released as part of ORFEO's series 'Wiener Staatsoper live'. Lisa Della Casa took part in the opening performances in the rebuilt house in 1955, a bundle of nervous energy as Donna Anna under Karl Böhm, with Anton Dermota as Don Ottavio.With the silvery gleam of her soprano and her crystalline high notes, she was also a natural choice as Eva in Die Meistersinger, a role she also sang at Bayreuth and the Met. Here she demonstrates that she was capable of raising standards to those worthy of an international festival whenever she appeared with other world-class singers.The same is true of the closing scene from Capriccio under Georges Prêtre and of the scene from Arabella in which her sister, Zdenka, is played by Anneliese Rothenberger in an inspired piece of casting. As Lucile in Gottfried von Einem's Dantons Tod, under Josef Krips in 1967, she proved a worthy successor to Maria Cebotari, who at the start of Della Casa's career had recommended her younger colleague for more challenging roles.Von Einem's opera by no means marked a new direction in the singer's career: far from taking on character roles in the later stages of her career, she was still singing lyric soprano roles until shortly before she retired from the stage. A unique voice, with distinctive simplicity and even phrasing.