Wednesday, August 26, 2020

Elina sings Wagner

 
I have fallen quite by accident into a film of the Wiener Philharmoniker directed by Christian Thielemann with mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča singing Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder at this year's Salzburg Festival.  For many years these were my favorite Wagner.

This is something I sang myself.  Which means my head is full of ideas of how it should go.  Tempo, legato, etc.  It can't be helped.  Maybe it's just not Wagnerian enough.  I think it wouldn't have occurred to me that it should be like Schumann.  There's no evidence that she looks at him.  She's not required to, you know.  Now looking back at these songs I hear that they are not like a Wagner opera at all.  Perhaps she's right.  The orchestra claps and stands.

The concert goes on.

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