This glorious new album finds Diana Damrau in sparkling, top-notch form. The exacting demands that Meyerbeer makes on the soprano voice are shrugged off by a diva in her prime.
Meyerbeer was German (Prussian) by birth, French by adoption, and Italian by formation; a true European. Born Jacob Liebmann Meyer Beer, his first name became ‘Giacomo’ during his years in Italy, where he headed on the advice of Salieri after the poor reception in Germany and Vienna of his first two operas. Inspired by the music of Rossini – six months his junior – he embarked on a string of seven operas in Italian during the ten-years he lived there. The last of these was Il crociato in Egitto, which premiered in Venice in 1824. A year later it was performed in Paris, and the city opened its doors to him. His first French opera was premiered in Paris in 1831, and it launched him into the opera stratosphere: Robert le diable, his first ‘grand opéra’.
Until his death in 1864 he remained wildly popular. So popular and so wealthy as to rub his contemporaries up the wrong way; Wagner said he was “a Jewish banker to whom it occurred to compose operas”. Meyerbeer’s operas on a grand scale gradually fell out of fashion in the latter part of the 1800s, and were hardly performed at all during the first half of the 20th century. The cost of large casts, the difficulty of Meyerbeer’s virtuoso writing, and the banning of the Jewish composer in Nazi Germany and other countries, all effected their popularity. A 1962 production of Les Huguenots at La Scala (with Joan Sutherland, Franco Corelli, Giulietta Simionato, Fiorenza Cossotto and Nicolai Ghiaurov… Gianandrea Gavazzeni conducting!) jump-started a revival and, together with Robert le diable, Le prophète, and L’Africaine, Meyerbeer’s grand operas are now to be found in in opera seasons the world over.
“On the balance of this album, Meyerbeer’s time for resurrection is now.”
Meyerbeer’s operas, once deemed too big for anyone’s good, are regaining their place – and here is Diana Damrau to show how their soprano arias should be sung. The first thing we hear is “Mon Coeur S’élance” from Le Prophète, its cartwheeling, two-octave leaps dashed off with smiling, oh-this-old-thing nonchalance. Damrau’s easy grace, brilliant tone and pliant expressiveness is everywhere – in the trio with two flutes from L’Etoile du Nord, in the poignant lament from Emma di Resburgo (where a full-scale men’s chorus is on hand for the ‘Cheer up, love’ interjections) and in excerpts from seven other operas. Emmanuel Villaume and his orchestra are excellent, the incidental singers classy; Charles Workman is hired to sing only the word “non” in the aria from Robert le Diable. Meyerbeer geeks will be delighted to hear two obscure German arias, recorded for the first time. Everyone else will just be delighted.
Dans l’air d’entrée de Berthe, Damrau est une touchante jeune fille évoquant son émoi à l’attente de son fiancé, avec une variété d’accents dramatiques d’une grande justesse. Le soprano sait ainsi alléger et colorer sa voix pour incarner un personnage tour à tour amoureux, impatient, rêveur ou enthousiaste.
Grand opéra handler om præcis, hvad navnet siger, opera og følelser på en storslået skala, og Diana Damrau har lys og lyrisk kraft til at levere den gode, raffinerede modpol til Bianca Castafiore fra Tintin-tegneserierne. Hun er en drøm af en sanger, og her er hun i sit rette element.
“In ihrem Meyerbeer-Album ist die Sängerin in großartiger Form. Eine richtige Diva!”
“Diana Damrau qui chez Erato, nous subjugue littéralement dans un récital 100% Meyerbeer, le créateur et l’amplificateur idéaliste du grand opéra français. Davantage qu’une chanteuse à roucoulades et aux aigus bien couverts et timbrés : Diana sait aussi ciseler les intentions de textes et de situations captivantes : avec la cantatrice allemande, l’opéra de Meyerbeer est avant du théâtre.”
“Diana Damrau zaubert aus jedem Titel eine eigene kleine Oper, zart, pastos und mit nach wie vor köstlich selbstverständlich erreichten Spitzentönen. Unbedingt hörenswert“, urteilt die Fachpresse. Dem ist nichts hinzuzufügen.”