Orfeo: Nina Stemme — Wagner / Wiener Staatsoper Live (Audio CD)

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Product Details:

• Product Type: Audio CD
• Brand / Label: Orfeo (Wiener Staatsoper Live series)
• Artist: Nina Stemme (soprano)
• Composer: Richard Wagner
• Orchestra & Chorus: Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper, Chor der Wiener Staatsoper
• Conductors: Seiji Ozawa, Franz Welser-Möst
• Catalogue Number: C 937 171 B
• UPC / EAN: 4011790937120
• Release Year: 2017
• Genre: Classical / Opera

Product Features

• Format: CD
• Discs: 1
• Total runtime: 76:17
• Sound: Stereo, Digital (DDD)
• Recording: Live recordings, Wiener Staatsoper, 2003–2013
• Made in: Austria
• Booklet languages: German text enclosed, English text enclosed

Overview

This is a portrait disc built around one voice doing exactly what it was made to do. Nina Stemme — the leading Wagnerian soprano of her generation — sings four of the composer's great female roles, drawn from live performances at the Vienna State Opera between 2003 and 2013. Der fliegende Holländer, Die Walküre, Siegfried and the closing Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde, all caught in the room rather than the studio.

What you hear is the weight and stamina that real Wagner demands. Stemme's Senta ballad opens the disc; her Brünnhilde from the close of Siegfried runs past twelve minutes without strain; and the final "Mild und leise" lands with the quiet that only comes after the storm. The Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera supports her under Seiji Ozawa and Franz Welser-Möst, two conductors who know how to give a singer air.

Orfeo's Wiener Staatsoper Live editions are the documentary record of that house at full strength. The 2017 release gathers a decade of Stemme's Vienna nights into a single 76-minute disc — a clean digital transfer with both German and English texts in the booklet.

Interesting Facts

• Nina Stemme, born in Stockholm in 1963, has been compared throughout her career to her countrywoman Birgit Nilsson — the benchmark for dramatic Wagnerian sopranos.
• The album spans a full decade of live appearances at the Vienna State Opera, from 2003 to 2013, rather than a single staged production.
• Two conductors share the podium across the disc: Seiji Ozawa and Franz Welser-Möst, the latter a former music director of the Vienna State Opera.
• The closing track is the Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde — "Mild und leise wie er lächelt" — one of the most demanding final scenes in the soprano repertoire.
• The recordings were made by Österreichischer Rundfunk (Austrian Radio, Ö1) and issued in Orfeo's Wiener Staatsoper Live series.

Track Listing

Wagner

1. Der fliegende Holländer: Johohoe! Traft ihr das Schiff im Meere an — 7:59
2. Der fliegende Holländer: Wirst du des Vaters Wahl nicht schelten? — 8:54
3. Die Walküre: Raste nun hier, gönne dir Ruh'! — 9:46
4. Siegfried: Heil dir, Sonne! Heil dir, Licht! — 5:00
5. Siegfried: O Siegfried! Siegfried! Seliger Held! — 6:26
6. Siegfried: Dort seh' ich Grane, mein selig Ross — 8:49
7. Siegfried: Ewig war ich, ewig bin ich — 12:27
8. Tristan und Isolde: Erfuhrest du meine Schmach — 9:44
9. Tristan und Isolde: Mild und leise wie er lächelt — 6:41

Publishers

Released by Orfeo International Music GmbH, Munich, in 2017, in the Wiener Staatsoper Live series. Issued by the Wiener Staatsoper GmbH from a recording by Österreichischer Rundfunk. Made in Austria.

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