Elfenlied

Elisabeth Schwarzkopf is universally acknowledged to be one of the greatest singers of the 20th century. Blessed with a voice of exquisite beauty, as well as a striking physical presence, she shone brightly in opera, excelled in the concert hall and brought a unique artistry to the recital platform. She was signed exclusively to EMI in 1946 and released a stream of magnificent recordings over almost 30 years. Schwarzkopf could translate her charismatic stage presence into purely vocal terms through the medium of recording, and still convey all the dramatic meaning of her songs and operatic characters to listeners who could hear but not see her. This rare quality is evident in all the recordings in this unique collection, which covers a lifetime of work and reveals the development of her art.

This 31 CD box set is being released to celebrate what would have been her 100th birthday in December 2015. The set contains all the recital programmes of song, opera and operetta tha t she recorded for EMI between 1952 and 1974, and also included two live recitals. All the recordings have been newly remasteredto the highest standards by various studios including Abbey Road. A reigning soprano of her era, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (1915-2006) remains renowned for her vocal beauty and elegance and for her acute interpretative insight – above all in the music of Mozart, Wolf and Strauss.

This Blu-ray box contains the international acclaimed Bruckner cycle of Christian Thielemann, a “magician of the Bruckner sound”(Kurier on Symphony No. 5) and the Staatskapelle Dresden, whose own Bruckner tradition dates back more than a century. Outstanding reviews emphasize the exceptionally high artistic quality of the concerts: “Once again Thielemann proved to be the unrestricted ruler on his ancestral territory, German Romantic repertoire” (Hamburger Abendblatt on Symphony No. 2). Christian Thielemann “displays the full musical maelstrom of Bruckner’s Symphony No. 3” (Münchner Merkur). “Another Bruckner triumph for Dresden” (Sächsische Zeitung on Symphony No. 6). “… one would have to be hard-hearted not to be touched by this heartfelt music” (Der Tagesspiegel on Symphony No. 8).

The German soprano Elisabeth Schumann was one of the finest lyric sopranos of the 20th Century. She made her professional debut in Hamburg in 1909 and died in 1952, having given her last public concert the previous year. In 1985 the eminent vocal expert Alan Blyth wrote of her: "No artist so endeared herself to her public as Elisabeth Schumann. The charm of her manner is legendary; so is the attraction of her slivery voice and outgiving style. Whether in her operatic portrayals, her Lieder or her operetta offerings, she captivated her audiences."

Rita Streich (born 18 December 1920 in Barnaul, Altai Krai, Russia, died 1987) was one of the most significant coloratura sopranos of the post-war period.
Rita Streich moved to Germany with her parents during her childhood, where she grew up bilingual, something that was extremely helpful during her later career. Among her teachers were Willy Domgraf-Fassbaender, Erna Berger, and Maria Ivogün.