Wesendonck-lieder

Nina Stemme (soprano), Katarina Andreasson (violin) & Svenska Kammarorkestern, Thomas Dausgaard

In June 2013 the Swedish Chamber Orchestra under the expert direction of Thomas Dausgaard are joined by one of today's foremost Wagner singers. Named 'Singer of the Year' by Opernwelt magazine in 2012, Nina Stemme has been the Isolde of choice at Glyndebourne, Bayreuth and Covent Garden.

For this new release Nina performs the five Wesendonck-Lieder, of which two in particular, Im Treibhaus and Träume, were referred to by Wagner as 'studies' for Tristan and Isolde. Wagner himself prepared a version for violin and orchestra of Träume, and the ensemble includes this setting featuring principal violinist, Katarina Andreasson, as soloist.

The Wesendonck-Lieder are framed by two versions of the overture to Der fliegende Holländer, the rarely heard 1841 original version and the composer's final creation from 1860, with its new ending inspired by Tristan, composed three years earlier.

Wagner:
 5 Wesendonck-Lieder
 Der fliegende Holländer: Overture
 Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
 Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg: Prelude to Act 3
 Siegfried Idyll
 Träume (No. 5 from Wesendonck-Lieder)

"[the Siegfried Idyll is] performed with a bright morning airiness that recalls its famous premiere...[Stemme's] approach remains expressive and searching, with excellent diction that rides the lighter orchestration effortlessly."
BBC Music Magazine - August 2013

"[Stemme] dominates with the Wesendonck-Lieder, which have all of her customary vocal richness but also an amplitude and approach that's appropriate to the larger scale and broader strokes of opera...Siegfried Idyll is usually heard under chamber orchestra circumstances, and both the quality of the playing and sheen of the strings are up there with the best."
Gramophone Magazine - August 2013