Wagner: Kirstten Flagstad Arias

These recordings were made when the great Norwegian soprano was in her vocal prime, between 1935 and 1940. Although her voice remained astonishingly well preserved till late in her career, later recordings of the same music are no less resplendent but perhaps lack the last degree of dramatic tension she could bring when regularly singing these roles on stage. Included is the Act 2 duet from Parsifal, which became a calling-card not only for her but for her partner in this recording, and times without number on stage, Lauritz Melchior. Desmond Shawe-Taylor remarked in the New Grove Dictionary of Opera that ‘No one within living memory surpassed her in sheer beauty and consistency of line and tone’. She quickly became a legend in Norway, where her portrait adorned both the 100 Kroner note and the tail of Norwegian Air Shuttle planes, but her fame spread throughout the musical world (she is one of the few opera singers to have her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame). Rudolf Bing called her ‘the greatest soprano of the century’, and many would agree. 1 Tristan und Isolde, opera, WWV 90: Act 3. Mild und leise (Liebestod) - Richard Wagner & Kirsten Flagstad (7:15) Composed byRichard Wagner Conducted byEdwin McArthur Performed byKirsten Flagstad, Edwin McArthur, San Francisco Opera Orchestra 2 Lohengrin, opera, WWV 75: Act 2: Euch Lüften, die mein Klagen - Richard Wagner & Kirsten Flagstad (3:36) Composed byRichard Wagner Conducted byEugene Ormandy Performed byKirsten Flagstad, Eugene Ormandy, Philadelphia Orchestra 3 Parsifal, opera, WWV 111: Act 2. Ich sah' das Kind - Richard Wagner & Gordon Dilworth (33:06) Composed byRichard Wagner Conducted byEdwin McArthur Performed byGordon Dilworth, Kirsten Flagstad, Edwin McArthur, Lauritz Melchior, RCA Victor Orchestra 4 Die Walküre (The Valkyrie), opera, WWV 86b: Act 1. Du bist der Lenz - Richard Wagner & Kirsten Flagstad (2:06) Composed byRichard Wagner Conducted byEugene Ormandy Performed byKirsten Flagstad, Eugene Ormandy, Philadelphia Orchestra 5 Die Walküre (The Valkyrie), opera, WWV 86b: Act 2. Ho-jo-to-ho! - Richard Wagner & Kirsten Flagstad (2:04) Composed byRichard Wagner Conducted byHans Lange Performed byKirsten Flagstad, Hans Lange 6 Die Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods), opera, WWV 86d: Prologue. Zu neuen Taten - Richard Wagner & Kirsten Flagstad (8:53) Composed byRichard Wagner Conducted byEdwin McArthur Performed byKirsten Flagstad, Edwin McArthur, Lauritz Melchior, San Francisco Opera Orchestra 7 Die Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods), opera, WWV 86d: Act 3. Starke Scheite schichtet mir dort - Richard Wagner & Kirsten Flagstad (16:28) Composed byRichard Wagner Conducted byEdwin McArthur Performed byKirsten Flagstad, Edwin McArthur, Lauritz Melchior, San Francisco Opera Orchestra