Joining the great Gewandhausorchester, soprano Rachel Willis-Sørensen gives us a Richard Strauss programme that’s mightily impressive. This is late Strauss, so the colours are golden, mellow and autumnal, and the superb Leipzig ensemble is completely inside that unique soundworld. Willis-Sørensen’s voice has a dusky quality, especially in the lower registers, which allows her to blend with, and then soar out of, the orchestra, as in “Frühling”. “Beim Schlafengehen” is beautifully crafted, her voice soaring, as if being set free. The Capriccio closing scene—in which the Countess Madeleine grapples with the very essence of opera (word or music?)—shows Willis-Sørensen alive to every little nuance of the text. Nelsons is a fine partner and clearly an accomplished Straussian.
More By Rachel Willis-Sørensen
- Christian Thielemann & Vienna Philharmonic
- Anna-Maria Palii, Ursula Kepser, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra & Howard Arman Christian Macelaru
- Hans Knappertsbusch, Vienna Philharmonic & Birgit Nilsson
- The Cleveland Orchestra & Franz Welser-Möst
- Riccardo Chailly & Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
- Magdalena Kožená, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra & Sir Simon Rattle
- Staatskapelle Dresden & Bernard Haitink