Kirsten Flagstad sings Wagner - "Der Engel"

"Der Engel", from Richard Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder

Kirsten Flagstad, soloist
Hans Knappertsbusch conducts the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Kirsten
• Flagstad
• Hans
• Knappertsbusch
• Vienna
• Philharmonic
• Richard
• Wagner
• Wiener
• Philharmoniker
• Wesendonk
• Wesendonck

[svetul]

this woman is the most glorious singer i ever heart!

[esarfmij]

I just listened to the magnificent Jessye Norman singing this . . . yet Flagstad's voice entered my soul, and chills carressed my body. Magnificent. Marielegoth, may your wish come true; your goal is noble.

[achantus1]

@Heyjohn843 I agree! have you listen to her Liebestod (Tristan and Isolde)? Or her interpretation of songs by Grieg? Absolutely wondeful! even her version of Händel's" Ombra Mai Fu" (from the opera Xerxes) is better than the rest. The greatest singer of all times.

[MrSkylark1]

No singer today can match FLAGSTAD

[Marielegoth]

I love her voice!!! I'm dramatic soprano, I wish to be like her!!!

[Whistlejocket]

@philipvanlidth I agree with you.

[philipvanlidth]

@Prometheus2013 But if you listen carefully to the sound of the voice, I think one has to agree that even at this time, Flagstad was a dramatic soprano and not a dramatic mezzo. Part of it is where the transitions happen in the voice. While Flagstad was a master singer whose transitions were not obtrusive, I feel them higher than where they would be for a mezzo of any sort...

[philipvanlidth]

@Prometheus2013 The difference between a dramatic mezzo and a truly dramatic soprano is actually less than one might think and is more a question of timbre than of range or, perhaps, even tessitura. I have known several dramatic mezzos who, perhaps for a limited time, have moved into the dramatic Wagnerian soprano repertoire and eventually returned to the dramatic mezzo repertoire. Martha Modl and Gwyneth Jones are two prime examples, as was Christa Ludwig.

[runupahill1]

Thank you, violinthief.

[Heyjohn843]

I'd have to say one of the best recordings! Her tone is to die for and her expressions on some notes are bone chilling! Thanks for the post!