Customer Reviews

The Very Best of Lucia Popp

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Lucia Popp is one of the best sopranos to ever grace the operatic/classical voice stage. This CD compilation shows her progression through lyric Handel to lyric and dramatic Mozart (her Der Holle Rache from Magic Flute is unrivaled) to tender art song and operetta literature. The first disc also showcases her adeptness with 20th Century literature as well as the ability to step out of the traditional four languages of opera. Any avid music fan MUST have this CD compilation.

Listening through these two discs, one thought kept leaping up to mind: will ever there be another soprano as versatile and accomplished as Lucia Popp? Died in 1994 at the early age of 54, the operatic world hadn't really mourned her enough.
People are still lingering on Maria Callas, the 'star' soprano with all her glamour and legendary life could offer.
Real listeners, however, could not give up the memory of Lucia Popp's terrific artistry and almost supernatural voice.
Her Rusalka, her Solveig, her Susanna, Zerlina, Despina in the da Ponte/Mozart trio, her terrific Queen of the Night (unsurpassed by ANY subsequent sopranos up till now), and ALSO her Pamina in the same opera. In any language you ask her to sing, and she excelled. I marvel at the Letter Scene in Eugene Onegin - only if Lucia had the chance to perform the whole opera during her short life! The joy, the expectation, the emotional tribulations, so vividly captured in girlish and pure timbre. No one will ever beat her; not even Fleming and Netrebko.
"Weird and wonderful" - that's what Elisabeth Schwarzkopf said of Lucia Popp's singing. We today would modify it to 'wonderful and unsurpassable'.
This 2-CD set is an absolute must have, even if you have never heard of Lucia Popp before.

This is a wonderful album showcasing the very best of Lucia Popp (as the title suggests). Her voice was absolutely beautiful. She could sing the slavic languages like no one else. Her version of Dvorak's Song to the Moon is unbeatable. I dare anyone to find a better performance! Also, the song from Die Zauberflute -Ah Ich fuls (sp?) is outstanding. I've yet to hear a better version. Her diction was fantastic and while she wasn't the highest soprano around - she knew what worked for her voice. This is album is a keeper!

Lucia Popp came from my home country of Slovakia. In 1963, she took her chance and, as the amazingly talented 24-year-old ingenue, accepted the offer to sing in Vienna. She crossed the iron curtain. This for a long time made her and undesirable element in the Communist Czechoslovakia. Only after the collapse of Soviet block in 1989 she gained the due recognition also in her homeland. Tragically, just four years later she died of cancer, aged only 54...
What she left is the great body of work. She specialized on German and Austrian composers, which is evident also from this great compilation. However, anything she touched, she turned into gold.
On this double CD you can find many of her glorious recordings. Especially high recommended are all Mozart's (among them the famous Queen aria from Magic Flute) and Handel's songs, unsurpassable Dvorak and Smetana, the definitive Richard Strauss' 4 Last Songs and the beautiful Letter Scene from Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin. Also here we have her famous Carmina Burana arias from 1960's.
What is missing, though, is some more of Italian opera, represented only by one piano-accompanied Rossini. I would love to hear Lucia singing "Brindisi" from Traviata as she did to Queen Elizabeth II alongside Placido Domingo in 1986, or listen to her playing Tosca or La Boheme by Puccini. Still, a wonderful CD worth almost five complete stars.

I often wonder how is it that someone with working-class background and without any previous exposure to classical music in childhood I grew up to be almost connoisseur (in my own,clumsy way)?
After all,my parents would change TV channel when classical music came on,radio played only pop songs and even my mother complained that she never understood where is the beauty of piano music that she disliked so much (to her it sounded like banging on kitchen pots). And here am I,enjoying classical music concerts,reading literature about it and collecting some celebrated recordings - it helps that today we have the whole industry about music literature,but it also helps to have some direction ("Gramophone" magazine helped me a lot,they always have interesting articles and recommendations).

I read somewhere that current czech mezzo soprano Magdalena Kozená (whom I liked) sounds like late Lucia Popp and not really knowing Popp,I have mentioned this to the guy in my favorite CD shop (Amsterdam's wonderful "Concerto") and he smirked dismissively - in his opinion Popp was a real thing and to illustrate this,he immediately filled the shop with luscious sound of Lucia Popp singing Dvo'ák's famous "Song to the moon" (from "Rusalka"). I actually got water-eyed from a sheer beauty of this voice and bought the CD immediately. Oh joy,when I found out the rest of the Cd is filled with one beauty after the other - Popp was equally brilliant in many completely different pieces like gentle "Solveig's song" ("Peer Gynt"), "In Trutina" ("Carmina Burana"), "Vier letzte lieder" by Richard Strauss or cheerful selection by Mozart. Apparently this lady was eccentric virtuoso and eclectic talent - throw anything at her and she would respond with natural grace,be it dramatic ballad or "Die Forelle" or Queen of the Night. At the very end of second CD we have what must be the highlight of this collection, 1986 recording of "Klänge der Heimat" from "Die Fledermaus" which completely blew me away with coloratura that would make even Tetrazzini proud.
Simply a wonderful,wonderful artist.

I love this CD set, especially disk 1, and most especially the R. Strauss "Four Last Songs." What an amazing and versatile artist she was -- this is truly great singing. A great voice of the 20th century. I love sacred music, and only wish there was room for one or two more of these on the set. She sings them so beautifully.

This is an outstanding selection of music by an artist who should be better known for her ethereal voice. Marvelous!

This is a magnificent album; she had a superb voice and the person who selected the songs of this album picked her "very best."

Lucia Popp was a fine soprano in her day. Her repertoire was broad--from Grieg to Tchaikovsky to Mozart to Dvorak to Smetana to Orff to Mahler to Handel to Strauss (Richard and Johan, Jr.). This 2 CD set shows her talents off nicely. Some exemplars of her art:

Solveig's Sing, from "Peer Gynt" by Grieg: Hers is an affecting version. Popp had a rich voice that worked very well in this piece. She sings this smoothly.

"Stetit puella" from "Carmina Burana" by Orff: Well sung. She gives life to Orff's work. She displays a rich voice which produces a smooth sound in this cut.

Mahler's 4th Symphony: The vocal part of Mahler's 4th symphony is affecting and effective. Popp sings this well, an enchanting version in fact. She handles the vocal challenges of this work well.

"Voi che sapete" from Mozart's "Le Nozze di Figaro": Her rich voice fits this aria well. It's almost weird that she can sing this so well--and then do the Queen of the Night effectively! This is an evocative piece, and she captures the character pretty well, in my judgment.

"Der Holle Rache" from Mozart's "Magic Flute": And now for something completely different. . . . What a change of pace! She does a superb job in this difficult singing role; she is a credible Queen of the Night. Her staccato technique is strong; she handles the difficult and treacherous passages well--and nails the high notes cleanly and crisply.

So, what can one say after listening to this 2 CD set? Lucia Popp had considerable talent and fine technique. She was clearly one of the finer soprano talents of the latter part of the 20th century.