Schubert, Mozart, Dvorak, Mahler, Strauss: Lieder / Lucia Popp

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Composer), Franz [Vienna] Schubert (Composer), Antonin Dvorak (Composer), Gustav Mahler (Composer), Richard [1] Strauss (Composer), Geoffrey Parsons (Performer), Irwin Gage (Performer), Lucia Popp (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Geoffrey Parsons, Irwin Gage, Lucia Popp
• Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz [Vienna] Schubert, Antonin Dvorak, Gustav Mahler, Richard [1] Strauss
• Audio CD (September 21, 1999)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: BBC Legends
• ASIN: B00000K2FA
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #446,151 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This is a recording to enchant both ear and heart. Lucia Popp's voice is bright but warm, pure, perfectly controlled; her intonation is impeccable, her phrasing poised, leisurely, elegant. Though a distinguished opera star, she brings to these songs a wonderful immediacy and simplicity, identifying with mood and character without overdramatizing or exaggerating, and inflects and colors her voice only for expression, never for effect. Her program, recorded live at two different recitals, is varied and imaginative and includes several unfamiliar songs, such as four "Canzonen" by Schubert, sung in Italian, and three songs by Dvorák, two of them from the cycle Cypresses, which he later arranged for string quartet, sung in Czech. Unfortunately, the producers apparently expect the listener to be equally multilingual and provide no texts or translations. However, Popp can put a smile, a tear, tenderness, love, ghostly dread, and ardent ecstasy into her voice, giving it an eloquence beyond words. Her pianists are admirable, though Gage's playing in the Mahler songs is too fussy, and in Strauss's "Morgen!" the violin obbligato is sadly missing. --Edith Eisler

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another treasure from a much loved, much missed musician, October 7, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Schubert, Mozart, Dvorak, Mahler, Strauss: Lieder / Lucia Popp (Audio CD)

The world lost a beautifully unique and uniquely beautiful voice when Lucia Popp passed away. Anyone who loves Popp simply must have this CD. She sings Lieder by composers associated with her -- Mozart, Strauss, and Mahler. Yet my favorite tracks are the three Dvorak songs, sung with such pain and intensity. My only reservations of this CD come from the fact that these are live recordings, meaning that there is audience noise (not too much), and (most annoyingly) applause after each set of songs. Also, the pianists are rather distantly balanced. But no matter -- I love this CD all the same, and anyone who loves Popp will also love this CD too.