Kirsten Flagstad Edition - The Decca Recitals - Box Set 10CDs

Label : Decca
Format : Flac track
Cover : Yes

7 December 2012 marks the 50th anniversary of the death of Kirsten Flagstad. Born in Hamar, Norway, on 12 July 1895 Flagstad made her debut in Oslo in 1912 in D'Albert's Tiefland.

Flagstad's first appearance at Bayreuth in 1930 established her as one of the greatest Wagnerian sopranos of the 20th century. Her New York debut was as Sieglinde (Die Walküre) on February 2, 1935; Flagstad first appeared at Covent Garden on 18 May 1936 as Isolde. The world premiere of Richard Strauss' Vier letzte Lieder was given in London by Flagstad. Although Flagstad is most widely known for her Wagnerian roles she also recorded Purcell's Dido and Aeneas and Gluck's Alceste for Decca, and it was in 1958 that she was persuaded to participate in the now legendary recording of Der Ring des Nibelungen under Solti when she sang the role of Fricka in Das Rheingold.

Flagstad was also much-admired as an interpreter of Lieder; this edition brings together Flagstad's complete Decca recitals made in the 1950s in a wide range of repertory that includes Brahms and Schubert, in addition to Grieg and Sibelius songs. She can be heard in several Wagner excerpts as well as the Wesendonk-Lieder.

This ten-disc set features recordings made for Decca in the second half of the 1950s, the period that has been described as Kirsten Flagstad’s “Indian Summer”, after she had left EMI. Although this is not a comprehensive set of those Decca recordings - which include the complete Alceste and Das Rheingold - it is nevertheless a wonderful and important collection covering a wide variety of repertoire.

The set gets off to a fantastic start with the first two discs featuring Wagner’s Wesendonck-Lieder and Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder and Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (CD1) and extracts from Wagner operas (CD2). This is searingly beautiful, sensitive, radiant music-making, with superb atmosphere and feeling and excellent orchestral accompaniment. We move to Grieg for the third disc - a selection of songs. These are preceded by the rather maudlin song-cycle Haugtussa, which is strongly associated with Flagstad, who popularised it in the recital hall. The piano comes across as somewhat muffled, as if it has been placed too far back, although this is probably due to the recording style of the period. Certainly the recorded acoustic is typical of 1950s Decca recordings. This occlusion is also prevalent throughout the fifth and sixth discs. It is particularly noticeable in Erlkönig, which really calls out for a crisper, more immediate sound.

Disc four is of songs by Sibelius, Grieg, Eggen, Alnaes and Lie. These were recorded in the Kingsway Hall, so the sound is very different - both colder but more immediate - yet it again spotlights the voice. Flagstad’s higher notes seem to have more power and assurance than on the following disc - CD4 having been recorded in 1958 and 1959, while the recordings on CD5 date from 1956. The London Symphony Orchestra in the 1959 recording of the Eggen, Alnaes and Lie has a more focused sound than in the preceding Sibelius and Grieg, where the songs were recorded the previous year. Despite this, the Sibelius songs are utterly ravishing, and this recording is to be treasured. The works by Eggen, Alnaes and Lie are simple and strophic, extremely opulent in harmonic language and instrumentation and just a bit same-y and sweet in a slightly candy-floss-ish way.

Schubert and Brahms feature on the fifth disc, where the recordings amply capture the substance and richness of Flagstad’s voice. One issue that is noticeable here is that notes of F sharp and above are not as well-centred as the rest of the voice; the intonation and control not as secure as for lower notes. This is an issue on other discs, too - particularly Strauss’s Befreit on CD6 - although only for those recorded in the Decca studio and not those recorded, for example, at Kingsway Hall; perhaps she felt less at ease in the studio? Erlkönig was, for me, the highlight of this disc, despite the distanced piano, where, as previously mentioned, greater articulation is needed. Although Flagstad does not differentiate as much as other singers between the characters, the sense of hysteria she captures in the child’s last cries is terrifyingly intense, and the ending is deeply chilling and utterly gripping. That said, I did feel that Flagstad is here slightly let down by the pianist whose accompaniment is just a little too prosaic and lacking in atmosphere.

The sixth disc presents songs by Schumann, Wolf, Strauss and Sinding. The only issues here are the aforementioned higher note insecurity. Disc seven moves on to sacred songs by Mendelssohn, Gounod, Parry, Bortniansky and Liddle, with a couple of Christmas carols thrown in (Silent Night and O Come, all ye faithful). This disc is slightly less impressive than the preceding ones - Flagstad’s English is rather distorted. This is also an issue for the following disc where it is sometimes difficult to tell that Flagstad is singing in English. Examples can be found in Jesu, joy of man’s desiring and in the opening Hear my Prayer ... O for the wings of a dove where Flagstad is accompanied by an unidentified chorus. There the ensemble is rather poor and the sopranos wail. The balance between chorus and orchestra is also inappropriately biased towards the orchestra. The following disc is of extracts of Bach and Handel. The performances tend to be heavy and unleavened.

The final two discs are taken up with Norwegian hymns, some of these preceded by very brief organ preludes. Again, the recorded balance is odd; Flagstad is very closely miked, whilst the organ is distant. Another oddity is that no texts or translations are provided for the hymns - whilst all other texts have been usefully reproduced. The inclusion of the hymn discs is a nice touch, however, given that these are works with which Flagstad would have been familiar since her earliest days. She regularly sang them in concert performances held in churches in Norway during her last years.

The booklet notes comprise just a relatively short biography of Flagstad, track-listings and texts. There’s nothing about any of the composers, which is not a problem except in the case of the lesser-known ones, such as Lie, Eggen and Alnaes, about whom it would be interesting to have some background.

Despite the few issues outlined above, this is nevertheless a wonderful set, with some glorious performances - especially of the Sibelius, Mahler and Wagner.

Complete tracklist : Kirsten Flagstad Edition - The Decca Recitals