3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Lohengrin excerpts are beyond compare, September 24, 2005
This review is from: Elisabeth Schwarzkopf: Romantic Opera Arias (Airs D'operas Romantiques) (Audio CD)
I love all of this recording, but it's the long excerpts from Lohengrin, especially the duet between Orturd and Elsa, that steals the show. Early on Schwarzkopf performed the role of Elsa on stage, I believe, but she never recorded the entire role. She would have bene incomparable, and Christa Ludwig, already a legendary Ortrud in the classic Kempe set, outdoes that performance by a mile in vehemence and vocal fireworks. I hope you get the chance to be as thrilled as I was when I first heard this great CD.
P.S. 2011 -It saddens me that in five years no one else has reviewed, or even paid attention to, this incomparable collection of romantic arias. Besides Elsa, Schwarzkopf never recorded (or performed?) the soprano leads in Freischutz or Eugene Onegin, but she is lovely in the big arias for Agathe and Tatiana. Also, I should note everything on this CD can be had more cheaply by buying the big "Icon" box set released by EMI; it contains all her recordings outside complete operas.
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