Elisabeth Söderström Singing Sibelius Made Available For Third Time

The latest release of a famous recording. Pre-order here.

Recorded at Kingsway Hall in London between December 1978 and November 1981, this set of complete songs from Jean Sibelius features baritone Tom Krause and soprano Elisabeth Söderström accompanied by pianists Irwin Gage and Vladimir Ashkenazy as well as guitarist Carlos Bonell. It won the Gramophone Award for "Solo Vocal Award" in 1985. Originally released on LP, this 4-CD set was available previously only by Universal Japan and then as part of a special limited-edition Gramophone Awards Collection series on Decca. For connoisseurs, this edition sets the standard quite high in the artistry department. Born in the Swedish-speaking region of Finland, Sibelius didn't begin to learn Finnish until age 11. His songs were made popular worldwide by opera singers Birgit Nilsson and Jussi Björling through their recitals, concerts, and recordings. Scandinavian music in general continued to be under-represented on disc until Elisabeth Söderström recorded a 1957 program of works that ranged from Erik Gustav Geijer to Ture Rangström. Since the initial release of Decca's Sibelius songs, the industry has produced a plethora of recordings featuring the composer's vocal gems interpreted by artists such as Karita Mattila, Anne Sofie von Otter, Monica Groop, Katarina Karnéus, Soile Isokoski, and Barbara Bonney.  Listen to excerpts from Sibelius: The Complete Songs by clicking here. Read a 2004 review of the Gramophone re-issue, and see the complete list of songs, after the jump. [Source, Source]

Leyla Gencer And Grace Bumbry In Unconventional Performance

Grace Bumbry (left) and Leyla Gencer (right) appear backstage during performances of Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea at La Scala in 1967. Listen to the performance here.  See some other unique casting choices for this Baroque piece, after the jump.

"L'incoronazione di Poppea (SV 308, The Coronation of Poppaea) is an Italian opera by Claudio Monteverdi, with a libretto by Giovanni Francesco Busenello, first performed at the Teatro Santi Giovanni e Paolo in Venice during the 1643 carnival season. One of the first operas to use historical events and people, it describes how Poppaea, mistress of the Roman emperor Nero, is able to achieve her ambition and be crowned empress. The opera was revived in Naples in 1651, but was then neglected until the rediscovery of the score in 1888, after which it became the subject of scholarly attention in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Since the 1960s, the opera has been performed and recorded many times. The original manuscript of the score does not exist; two surviving copies from the 1650s show significant differences from each other, and each differs to some extent from the libretto. How much of the music is actually Monteverdi's, and how much the product of others, is a matter of dispute. None of the existing versions of the libretto, printed or manuscript, can be definitively tied to the first performance at the Teatro Santi Giovanni e Paolo, the precise date of which is unknown. Details of the original cast are few and largely speculative, and there is no record of the opera's initial public reception. Despite these uncertainties, the work is generally accepted as part of the Monteverdi operatic canon, his last and perhaps his greatest work. In a departure from traditional literary morality, it is the adulterous liaison of Poppea and Nerone which triumphs, although this victory is demonstrated by history to have been transitory and hollow. Moreover, in Busenello's version of the story all the major characters are morally compromised. Written when the genre of opera was only a few decades old, the music for L'incoronazione di Poppea has been praised for its originality, its melody, and for its reflection of the human attributes of its characters. The work helped to redefine the boundaries of theatrical music, and established Monteverdi as the leading musical dramatist of his time. [Source]

Why Glyndebourne Heir Sir George Christie Cut His Own Hair

Sir George Christie with Swedish soprano Elisabeth Söderström (Photo: Getty)

"One curious fact about Sir George Christie, who died last week, aged 79, was that he always cut his own hair, a notoriously difficult thing to do. He did it with a three-way mirror and, according to his wife Mary, did it very badly. His reason, apparently, was a reluctance to waste money on a barber. For while George was very well-off (and the epitome of generosity when it came to others), he hated to spend anything on himself. For example, he never took a taxi — he would always travel in London by Tube or bus, even to such an event as the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee service in St Paul’s Cathedral — and he had his suits made by the wardrobe department of the Glyndebourne opera company rather than pay a London tailor. His thrift, however, didn’t extend to wine, which he loved as much as he hated water, and of which he possessed an excellent cellar. When he was weakened by his final illness, his main complaint was that he was no longer capable of walking off his hangover." [Source]

Buried (MP3) Treasure: Elisabeth Söderström

As record labels explore the cost effectiveness of the MP3 format, many are digging deep into their archives to find recorded material to re-issue from previous CD incarnations or in some cases for the first time since their original LP release. Click on the Amazon widget to hear MP3 audio samples.

Universal's Eloquence Releases Rare Archived Recordings

Complete track listings and album notes for each release
can be found after the jump.

Söderström Wanted Her Strauss in English

Chandos adds a BBC live broadcast of Strauss's Intermezzo from a 1974 performance at Glyndebourne to their catalog on January 4, 2011. Elisabeth Söderström (1927-2009) stars in this live BBC broadcast of Richard Strauss’s comic and pioneering opera, Intermezzo, recorded at Glyndebourne in 1974. This unique performance is now available on CD for the first time as part of Chandos’ Opera in English historical series.

Full cast and more information after the jump.