Beethoven, Wagner, Verdi

"Recommended: Lise Davidsen is a young Norwegian soprano and at present one of the most exciting voices on the planet ... To stamp Davidsen's voice as extraordinary is in her case almost an understatement. Her voice is indeed extraordinary but one quickly runs out of adjectives to qualify it. It is powerful, lavish, dramatic, sensitive, warm, cutting edge - and I could go on. Perhaps it is best to simply state her voice is unique, dazzling and potent, vigorous and flexible all at the same time - a one-in-a-generation voice ... Needless to say that Lise Davidsen excels. Her performance is excruciatingly beautiful both in the interpretation and the technical merit. The London Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Sir Mark Elder do an outstanding job of accompanying Davidsen's musical and singing prowess".

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"Recording of the week: Beethoven's notoriously unforgiving two-octave leaps and breath-sapping long phrases seemingly posing no problem at all for Davidsen's formidable lung-capacity and seamlessly-integrated instrument ... Elder's tempi are often luxuriously spacious, capitalising on his soloist's rock-steady breath-control, and he clearly relishes being in a position to let the brass entirely off the leash when the opportunity presents itself - Davidsen in full cry is more than a match for Wagner's thickest scoring".

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"Editor's choice: The Norwegian soprano here shows other strings to her bow, offering a more varied calling card than on her debut album of Wagner and Strauss. We've Beethoven first, plus a couple of tantalising Verdi arias, as well as snippets from operas by Mascagni and Cherubini ... Vocally it is a supremely satisfying account of the aria [Abscheulicher! Wo eilst du hin?], with the tone powerful and secure, as well as disarmingly beautiful ... helped by vivid, detailed and dramatically engaged accompaniment from Mark Elder and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, excellent throughout ... The Wesendonck Lieder confirms what an ideal fit vocally and temperamentally Davidsen is for the composer ... Another fine album from an artist who, quite simply, is one of the greatest voices to be heard today".

"På sin anden Decca-udgivelse har Davidsen udskiftet ét London-orkester med et andet. Denne gang er det London Philharmonic og operaspecialisten Sir Mark Elder. Vi ved, at Davidsens Kgl. Teater-trænede stemme er vidunderlig, og vi ved også, at hun aldrig forvansker den i unødvendige ... effekter. Læn dig tilbage og nyd hendes naturlige fortolkninger".

"År 2015 tog Lise Davidsen en hel operavärld med storm ... Första skivan på Decca följs nu upp med en fullmatad utgåva. Flera av de senaste årens roller finns representerade och Wesendoncksångerna avslöjar en ledande Wagnersopran i vardande ... Värmen från det lägre registret finns kvar när sångerskan strålar ikapp med orkesterns fina tempi".