Kirsten Flagstad - Isolde's Narrative and Curse

Tristan and Isolde - Act I

Isolde - Kirsten Flagstad
Brangaene - Elisabeth Höngen

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Kirsten
• Flagstad
• Isolde
• Tristan
• Wagner
• Opera

[Zva26]

I've never heard Flagstad as intense and as searing as she is at the conclusion of this narrative. She was the possessor of the grandest and most glorious dramatic soprano of the entire Twentieth Century. Nilsson came close, but in the final analysis, I'd have to give the ultimate palm to Flagstad. The extreme top notes faded as time went on but the richness and beauty of the lower and middle never left her. Just listen to her final London/Decca recordings of the late 1950's..stupendous!!

[BeauTenor]

Hehe...You say that, but you're acting as though "lyric" is an apt description of Nilsson's voice, which it certainly is NOT. Nilsson's voice was more slender than Flagstad's, who had more amplitude and the more massive instrument. That being said, Nilsson could cut through any orchestra, and her voice would have registered every bit as glaringly as Flagstad's because it was so perfectly placed and was NEVER strained, particularly in the top register. Both were unique singers.

[VivaRenata]

@viverito Stop ranting about those unfortunately supplemented High C 8th notes - unless you know something. Those high C's occur in the introduction to the love duet of the second act. They are the only High C's in Tristan and there are none in this selection. Remember too, the extent to which studio recordings and even stage performances are manipulated in our days. It's a shame that Decca didn't inform that these short high C's were supplemented, that's why it was blown out of proportion.

[coryisawake]

That placement!

[richard63545]

I don't know the exact date but definitely from 1950. She made several Wagner recordings with Hongen in England in 1950. As great as this recording is, it's technical quality shows just how much Flagstad's voice had lost it's lustre compared to the mid to late 1930s. She still was a great singer at this point but the days of the "voice from god" performances were long gone. I will say the only singer who sang this better than Flagstad sings it here was Flagstad herself 10 or 15 years earlier.

[andreernestgretry]

really inspired here, but, can you post the date of this recording please? thank you a lot...;-)

[Bquillamus]

@Greatfan You have got the Right Point!!! No one has described them better than you in any youtube posting here or elsewhere.

[mannail888]

Again as I wrote on a different video, Flagstad makes a human being proud to be a human being.

[shaun20483]

The mezzo is Elizabeth Hôngen-next to Flagstad she sounds like a child! She was very respected in the German-speaking countries. Wish I could have heard Flagstad in the flesh! Che vergogna!

[hupolepsis81]

It is not Thebom and she deosnt sound like her! Compare with Furtwangler-Flagstad-Suthaus 1952 recording (with Philharmonia Orchestra). Blanche Thebom voice is rich, powerfull, colourfull et highly dramatic. A very good partner for Kirsten Flagstad and SHE DOESNT SOUND LIKE A CHILD!! (specially in "Da ich zur Stell'ihn"...; even her "r" in "Konig Markes Land" is different) In youtube version Brangane (thank you vilinthief for precising it) sounds rather like Blanche Thebom grandmother.

[Prometheus2013]

Nilsson cut the orchestra only in the top register Flagstad cut the orchestra at the top and at the low register. Nilsson was lyric-dramatic than Flagstad's Giant dramatic mezzo type voice. Mezzo Thebom sounds as child in front of the colossal Flagstad in this Isolde, if it was Nilsson she should sound lighter than Thebom