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Decca Archive
Years before her untimely death, Jessie Norman’s career came to an end, and record executives were pushing Soprano to release many of her recordings, some of which were decades old. Some were silent. These prompts remained ignored when she died in 2019 at the age of 74. Some of that unprecedented music is now being published in a three-volume set. Jessie Norman: Unreleased MastersA treasure trove of great voices for opera lovers, it’s a reminder that few voices in history have given us the grandeur, vastness and color of the Grand Canyon.
This set is Norman’s first collection of new or unreleased songs released since 2010. The recordings span his nearly ten years, from 1989 to his 1998, and cover both familiar and uncharted territory for Richard and his Strauss, Wagner, and Berlioz works. Haydn and Britain. It’s more than a collection of outtakes. Most of the material here looks like Norman could have released it – both wise and surprising combinations – but her perfectionist standards got in the way.
Norman released Strauss recordings four last songs 1982’s grandeur is second to none, but the seven-year-later live version included in this new set is faster, with a sultry, burgundy voice moving more forward in the mix. I am benefiting. It’s a brilliant performance with the Berliner Philharmoniker, and it’s baffling why Norman didn’t approve its release. Originally, Strauss was to be paired with another set of songs, a Norman-approved live rendition of Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder in 1992, but neither saw the light of day. Just focus on his one passage in Wagner’s piece “Träume” to understand the condensed beauty of his voice as he unwinds his single word “verglühen” from pure gold. This means decline.
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Jessie Norman was a woman of fearless conscience. As a child, she dared to sit in the “whites-only” section of the station, and later, during her teenage years, integrated her counter into her hometown of Augusta, Georgia. Norman became a towering figure in the opera world. Like her perfectly tailored clothes, she chose her music to match her magnificent instrument, she shaped her career carefully in her own words, a good example being Berlioz’s lyrics in the scene of Death of Cleopatra Whether the protagonist is furious in her captivity or gives up, the French add an enchanting tone to the music.
Cleopatra It was supposed to be part of an early 90’s album, but was never released, but it depicts three historical queens, alongside Haydn’s. berenice scene and of Britain Paedra, all three are included on the final disc of this set. Norman said that at Berlioz’s studio he didn’t like the mix. It has been tweaked for this release in an attempt to meet her exacting standards. Her choice to include Britten is a reminder of the sheer breadth of the repertoire she has sung throughout her career, from Mozart to Schoenberg to Spiritual. In her later work, Cantata de Britten, composed in 1975, she portrays Phaedra, Queen of Athens, who decides to poison herself to the accompaniment of her macabre harpsichord. . As with any language she chooses to sing in, Norman’s phrasing here is precise and theatrically nuanced.
For Norman, Everest was the star of Wagner’s larger-scale work. Tristan and IsoldeShe toyed with it by recording Isolde’s transcendental “Vows of Love” three times. Norman knew she would never sing the entire opera on stage, so she headed to her studio to record in 1998. Still, the set has a 67-minute excerpt of hers, including a heavenly love duet with her Moser, tenor Thomas, and another of her gorgeous renditions of “Vows of Love.” increase.
Jessie Norman never officially approved all of the recordings for this set, but her family eventually did. And I’m grateful to hear that majestic voice soar again.
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