KIRSTEN FLAGSTAD Rarities 2-CDs

Kirsten Flagstad (1895-1962) is one of the greatest interpreters of Wagner on record. She treasured the gifts God bestowed on her, cultivated them with hard work and patience, and what emerged was a miracle of sound, large as the ocean, pure as a sunrise, and radiant with all the colors of the rainbow. Most of the material included in this collection previously appeared on disc only briefly, on the now-defunct Eklipse label. The earliest performance is a 1948 all-Wagner concert from Cuba, conducted by Clemens Krauss, where the soprano is in spectacular form. The latest of the selections, excerpts from a 1957 radio performance of Gluck’s Alceste, show that the nearly-62-year-old soprano had lost none of that perfect balance of registers that gave her voice seemingly limitless measures of richness, freedom, and brilliance. Two CDs, total time: 126 minutes.

CD 1 (61:12)
Bergen Festival Concert 1953
Songs by Edvard Grieg (1843-1907)
1. Fra Monte Pincio (From Monte Pincio) (5:56)
2. Lys Nat (Summer Night) (3:14)
3. En Drøm (A Dream) (3:28)

Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
4. Tristan und Isolde - Liebestod (7:11)
5. Götterdämmerung - Immolation Scene (19:43)
Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra / Grüner-Hegge

Gluck: Alceste (sung in Norwegian and Danish)
6. Act II - Mi arridea sinor la vita (2:12)
7. Act II - A’ vostri lai io pur bagnato il ciglio (5:53)
8. Act III - O Numi, ispiratemi ardire! (8:42)
9. Act I - Divinità infernal! (4:48)
Danish Radio Orchestra and Chorus / Hye-Knudsen
Copenhagen, 1957

CD 2 (64:54)
Havana Concert, 1948
1. Wagner: Fliegende Holländer - Senta’s Ballad (7:16)
2. Beethoven: Ah! Perfido, Op. 65 (11:44)
3. Wagner: Tristan und Isolde - O sink hernieder (6:42)*
4. Wagner: Tristan und Isolde - Liebestod (6:34)

Wagner: Wesendonck Lieder
5. I. Der Engel (3:06)
6. II. Stehe still! (3:10)
7. III. Im Treibhaus (5:22)
8. IV. Schmerzen (2:10)
9. V. Träume (4:38)
Havana Philharmonic / Clemens Krauss, conductor

10. Purcell: Dido and Aeneas - Dido’s Lament
sung in Norwegian / Norwegian Radio, ca. 1955 (5:43)

11. Flagstad discusses “Desert Island Discs” - 1952 (8:25)

KIRSTEN FLAGSTAD, soprano
*With Set Svanholm, tenor