Elisabeth Schwarzkopf - EMI Album Collection (195x-1970x) [Official Digital Download 24-bit/96kHz]

Elisabeth Schwarzkopf was one of the most linguistically as well as musically versatile sopranos of the post-war years. Her soprano accompanied by various other participants including the Pianisten, Orchestras & famous Conductors cover the classical great composers.

The celebrated German-born English soprano, (Olga Maria) Elisabeth (Friederike) Schwarzkopf, began to study voice in 1934 at the Berliner Musikhochschule with Lula Mysz-Gmeiner and with Maria Ivogun. She also studied lieder interpretation with Michael Raucheisen, Ivogun's husband. In 1938, Schwarzkopf debuted in Berlin as a Flower Maid in Parsifal. She remained in Berlin until 1944 when she joined the Vienna State Opera making her debut as Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos. Her first international appearances were in 1947 at London with the Vienna State Opera on tour as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni and Marzelline in Fidelio. She became a regular guest at Covent Garden. That same year she made her debut at the Salzburg Festival and she appeared there nearly every year until 1964. At Salzburg she was best known for her Mozart roles of Donna Elvira, Countess in Le nozze di Figaro and Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, but also had great success as Alice Ford in Falstaff and the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier. Her recitals with Gerald Moore as accompanist at Salzburg were always highly regarded, but in 1953 the great conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler accompanied her in an all Wolf recital. Her Teatro alla Scala debut in 1949 as the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro was a great success and she sang there until 1964 in a variety of roles including Melisande, Carmina burana, Catulli Carmina, and Il Trionfo of Orff, Elisabeth in Tannhäuser, Elsa in Lohengrin, Anne in The Rake's Progress, Iole in Handel's Hercules, as well as her Mozart and Strauss roles. She made her San Francisco Opera debut in 1955, but did not sing at the Metropolitan Opera until 1964. Her belated debut there is attributed to her ties to the National Socialist regime in Germany and Austria.

As great as her reputation as an opera singer was, her work on the recital and concert stage had even higher acclaim. Her fame as a recitalist was matched only by that of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. Her appearances were eagerly awaited around the world. In particular, her interpretations of the songs of Schubert, Strauss, and Wolf were admired. She is one of the few singers who was able to fulfill all of the requirements of an evening devoted to the songs of Wolf. On the concert stage she was often heard in cantatas and Passions of Bach, as well as the Verdi Requiem and symphonies of Mahler.

The voice of Elisabeth Schwarzkopf in her very early career was a light high soprano with excellent control of fioritura and breath control. As she matured, the middle and lower registers became much stronger and she began to sing more dramatic scores while giving up the lighter roles. By the late 1950s, she concentrated her operatic appearances on five or six roles to which she devoted great energy developing her interpretations to their highest level. This attention to detail and constant probing for added interpretive depth is the reason some writers find her performances too mannered and studied. In the recording studio, where she would work for hours perfecting one phrase, she was aided by her husband, record producer Walter Legge, in finding the perfect vocal color and phrasing to illuminate each piece. Even her most vocal critics stand in awe of the hard work that she brought to bear on even the simplest of songs. It is as a Mozart, Strauss and Wolf interpreter that Elisabeth Schwarzkopf will always be remembered.

Tracklist:

01 - An die Musik, D.547
02 - Im Frühling, D.882
03 - Wehmut, D.772
04 - Ganymed, D.544
05 - Das Lied im Grünen, D.917
06 - Gretchen am Spinnrade, D.118
07 - Nähe des Geliebten, D.162
08 - Die Junge Nonne, D.828
09 - An Silvia, D.891
10 - Auf dem Wasser zu singen, D.774
11 - Nachtviolen, D.752
12 - Der Musensohn, D.764




Tracklist:

01 - Ridente la calma K.152
02 - Oiseaux, si tous les ans K.307
03 - Dans un bois solitaire K.308
04 - Die Kleine Spinnerin K.531
05 - Als Luise die Briefe K.520
06 - Abendempfindung K.523
07 - Das Kinderspiel K.598
08 - Die Alte K.517
09 - Das Traumbild K.530
10 - Das Veilchen K.476
11 - Der Zauberer K.472
12 - Im Frühlingsanfang K.597
13 - Das Lied der Trennung K.519
14 - Die Zufriedenheit K.349
15 - An Chloe K.524
16 - Sehnsucht nach dem Frühling K.596
17 - Die Verschweigung K.518




Esteemed interpreter Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra under the baton of conductor George Szell deliver a landmark reading of this Strauss’ masterpiece. Schwarzkopf’s gorgeous vocal gifts add a new dimension to the pieces, while the warm maestro brings forth a technically flawless performance by the ensemble. The extraordinary attention to detail is lush and passionate. There is no finer rendition of these beloved works.

Tracklist:

01 - Vier letzte Lieder (Four Last Songs) Op. posth.: 1. Fruhling (Hesse)
02 - Vier letzte Lieder (Four Last Songs) Op. posth.: 2. September (Hesse)
03 - Vier letzte Lieder (Four Last Songs) Op. posth.: 3. Beim Schlafengehen (Hesse)
04 - Vier letzte Lieder (Four Last Songs) Op. posth.: 4. Im Abendrot (Eichendorff)
05 - Muttertandelei, Op.43/2
06 - Waldseligkeit, Op.49/1
07 - Zueignung, Op.10/1
08 - Freundliche Vision, Op.48/1
09 - Die heiligen drei Konige, Op.56/6
10 - Ruhe, meine Seele, Op.27/1
11 - Meinem Kinde, Op.37/3
12 - Wiegenlied, Op.41/1
13 - Morgen, Op.27/4
14 - Das Bachlein, Op.88/1
15 - Das Rosenband, Op.36 No. 1
16 - Winterweihe, Op.48/4




Tracklist:

01 - Liederkreis Op.39 - 1. In der Fremde
02 - Liederkreis Op.39 - 2. Intermezzo
03 - Liederkreis Op.39 - 3. Waldesgespräch
04 - Liederkreis Op.39 - 4. Die Stille
05 - Liederkreis Op.39 - 5. Mondnacht
06 - Liederkreis Op.39 - 6. Schöne Fremde
07 - Liederkreis Op.39 - 7. Auf einer Burg
08 - Liederkreis Op.39 - 8. In der Fremde
09 - Liederkreis Op.39 - 9. Wehmut
10 - Liederkreis Op.39 - 10. Zwielicht
11 - Liederkreis Op.39 - 11. Im Walde
12 - Liederkreis Op.39 - 12. Frühlingsnacht
13 - Frauenliebe und leben, Op.42 - Seit ich ihn gesehen
14 - Frauenliebe und leben, Op.42 - Er, der Herrlichste von allen
15 - Frauenliebe und leben, Op.42 - Ich kann's nicht fassen, nicht glauben
16 - Frauenliebe und leben, Op.42 - Du Ring an meinem Finger
17 - Frauenliebe und leben, Op.42 - Helft mir, ihr Schwestern
18 - Frauenliebe und leben, Op.42 - Süsser Freund, du blickest
19 - Frauenliebe und leben, Op.42 - An meinem Herzen, an meiner Brust
20 - Frauenliebe und leben, Op.42 - Nun hast du mir den ersten Schmerz getan

About the Mastering:
Four engineers at Abbey Road Studios in London have remastered these historic EMI recordings from their original analogue sources for release in pristine hi-def. Between them, Simon Gibson, Ian Jones, Andy Walter and Allan Ramsay have many years of experience remastering archive recordings for EMI and other record labels. The process always starts with finding all of the records and tapes in EMI's archive in London and comparing different sources and any previous CD reissues. We consult each recording's job file, which contains notes about the recording made by the engineer and producer. For example, this sometimes explain why there is more than one set of tapes to choose from. All of the tapes are generally in good condition and we play them on our Studer A80 π inch tape machine, after careful calibration of its replay characteristics.

In order to have the best digital remastering tools at our disposal for the remastering, we transfer from analogue to the digital domain at 96 KHz and 24-bit resolution using a Prism ADA-8 converter and capture the audio to our SADiE Digital Audio Workstation.

Thanks to the Original customer(s)!