Elsa Dreisig – Miroirs (2018) [FLAC 24bit/96kHz]

For her first recital with orchestra album, young Franco-Danish soprano Elsa Dreisig had the idea of presenting five pairs of songs in which each part of the pair is ambiguously related to the other, like a mirror’s reflection. This process leads to striking juxtapositions of different musical styles, dramatic moments, historical periods and contrasting voices; classicism and romanticism complement each other, terror answers joy, and the result is a view of the feminine soul all its facets. The first pairing involves two mirrors: the one in which Marguerite from Gounod’s Faustadmires herself and Thaïs’s mirror in Massenet’s opera (Thaïs). There follows Puccini’s vision of Manon Lescaut, and then Manon (sans Lescaut) as imagined by Massenet. Following this we have Juliette, this is a rather daring pairing of the largely-forgotten early romantic German composer Daniel Steibelt with Gounod’s Juliette. Elsa Dreisig then moves onto the two famous Figaros, one from Rossini’s Barber(Rosina) and the other from Mozart’s Marriage, with the gentle tones of the Countess. Finally, and more daring still, we end with the Salome of the Hérodiade by Massenet, a tender young woman who is not after anyone’s head; and then Strauss’s Salome, with her sanguinary madness. Probably in order to avoid the temptation of comparisons with other recordings, our singer has opted for the 1907 French version – note that this work by Oscar Wilde was itself originally written in French. This is the most extraordinary selection that one could hope for in a first recording from any artist, all accompanied by the Montpelier Orchestra, conducted by Michael Schønwandt.

Tracklist:
1. Faust, Act 3: “Les grands seigneurs … Ah ! je ris de me voir si belle” (Marguerite) 06:24
2. Thaïs, Act 2: “Ah ! je suis seule … Dis moi que je suis belle” (Thäis) 07:03
3. Manon Lescaut, Act 2: “In quelle trine morbide” (Manon) 02:40
4. Manon, Act 2: “Allons, il le faut ! … Adieu notre petite table” (Manon) 04:08
5. Roméo et Juliette, Act 2: “Je vais donc usurper les droits de la nature” (Juliette) 07:26
6. Roméo et Juliette, Act 4: “Dieu ! Quel frisson court dans mes veines ? … ” (Juliette) 11:01
7. Il barbiere di Siviglia, Act 1: “Una voce poco fa” (Rosina) 06:14
8. Le nozze di Figaro, K. 492, Act 2: “Porgi amor” (Contessa) 03:52
9. Hérodiade, Act 1: “Celui dont la parole efface … Il est doux, il est bon” (Salomé) 05:04
10. Salome, Op. 54, TrV 215, Scene 4: “Ah ! Tu n’as pas voulu …” (Salome) 16:24

Personnel:
Elsa Dreisig, soprano
Orchestre national Montpellier Occitanie Pyrénées Méditerranée
Michael Schönwandt, direction

Download:

mqs.link_ElsaDreisigMirirs20182496.part1.rar
mqs.link_ElsaDreisigMirirs20182496.part2.rar