Diana

As you may have noticed, I'm in the midst of a bit of a mania. So every now and then I have to slow down and remind myself that I can also just like a soprano, without going totally mad and making declarations left, right and centre. The soprano I have in mind is Diana Damrau. I wrote about Arie di bravura a little while ago. She's a discovery I'm very happy finally to have made, and so I made the effort to keep things going and bought two more of her CDs — two live lieder recitals, both on the Orfeo label. And as I say, she is a reminder that sane appreciation can still be plenty of fun.

The earlier of the two discs is a Late Romantic programme from the 2005 Salzburg Festspiele. There is one track, I must admit, which does send me slightly round the bend — her "Das himmlische Leben" is, well, heavenly; one of the best I've heard. She sails through a pair of Strauss' Brentano Lieder with just the effortless grace you'd expect. Diana reminds me a lot of Sandrine Piau, and yet in Strauss' Mädchenblumen, which also appears on Sandrine's exquisite Evocation,  I realised I'd never actually confuse the two. There are four encores, listed only inside the booklet and not on the back, which is a nice touch (it meant they took me by surprise, as encores ought). Maybe I'm strange but one of my favourite aspects of this recital is her charming spoken introductions to the songs. She enjoys herself here and it is infectious.

The other recital was recorded a year later. It features both the Schumanns, both the Mendelssohns, plus Brahms, Liszt and Chopin. And is delightful. As usual, I take greatest pleasure in the (Robert) Schumann. One of my favourite Mendelssohn Lieder is there too, "Neue Liebe" (a favourite because it was just about the first Mendelssohn Lied I learned, and I was addicted to it, thanks to Kathleen Battle.) There are hints of Elisabeth Schwarzkopf in her lieder singing, and I mean that in only its unambiguously positive sense; nothing mannered here, quite the opposite, but sensitivity and immaculate tone and diction are qualities they happily share. She's chirpy and adorable in Brahms' "Vergebliche Ständchen", another big favourite of mine — there was a time when I could not start the morning without watching Elisabeth's performance of this song (on an EMI Classic Archive DVD) at least once. Once again, the encores are a particular highlight. Liszt's "Es muss ein Wunderbares sein" seems to be a standard for Diana, as it appears in both recitals; she finishes up with a very sweet and pointedly sleepy rendition of Brahms' Wiegenlied before sending everybody home to bed.

For the moment I have no plans for a post proclaiming Diana Damrau the Best Soprano in the World Ever and my Utter, Utter Favourite Glorious Revelation and so on. You know me, so this may change. But I like her. A lot. And every YouTube video I see of her makes me like her even more. Like will do for now. I think she's great.

Comments

[Gregory: or, manprano]

You're such a scream.

Diana was the first soprano in a long time to make me triple take and scream "YES! DEAR GOD, at long last, YES!!"

But for pure cream, I'm still Sandrine Piau's b*tch.

[Sarah]

I'm thinking this post reads a bit like Famous Last Words. And months (or weeks...) from now I'll be re-reading it and thinking, how did I ever speak so lightly of MY Diana.
But we'll see.