Author Archives: daria
Liederabend | Wigmore Hall, London | June 2010
“I think the first time I heard Schwanewilms sing Strauss was in Rattle’s LSO concert performance of Ariadne auf Naxos at the Barbican many moons ago. I was impressed then, and subsequent exposure to the soprano – Euryanthe and Elettra at Glyndebourne, a flawless, spellbinding Vier Letzte Lieder at the RFH under Simone Young, a blazing Chrysothemis at Covent Garden (though no Marschallin there, tsk tsk, tsk), last year’s extraordinarily ethereal Desdemona under Colin Davis – has only served to strenghten my conviction that she is one of the very finest singers currently before the public, combining flawless musicianship, superb technique, exquisitely refined sound and imaginative insight in almost ideal proportions…put her on a recital platform, and a most unexpectedly sharp and droll sense of both character and situation emerges very clearly. The voice, when fully warmed up, has an entirely effortless, “floaty quality”…so accurate is the placement in high soft singing – absolutely ideal for Strauss…her technique is stronger that Janowitz’s, the manner less fretful and diffident than Price’s, the voice fuller and stronger than Popp’s…for me an evening of Strauss Lieder sung by Ms. Schwanewilms is as near Heaven as I …will ever get…the voice at its most lustrous and exquisitely polished, with a kind of soft glowing sheen right at the top of the range spun out effortlessly from one end of the programme to the other that I found absolutely ravishing. On form like this, there’s no-one to match her.”
www.opera-britannia.com
Liederabend | Eppan, Sudtirol | April 2010
“…Anne Schwanewilms’s sensational Strauss and Mahler recital…overwhelming warmth…beautiful belcanto legato…(…)allow one to sense just what a stimulating interpreter of Strauss’s operas she is…a wonderful voice with a uniquely beautiful timbre…a revelation…No-one else sings that as perfectly as she does.”
Dolomiten
Liederabend | Kennedy Center, Washington D.C. | January 2010
“…an evening to remember…she sang with flexibility and self-assurance that comes with familiarity with the score and poetry. Her voice is ideally suited to the demands of Strauss, capable of transparent lightness at the top, but with enough weight to power through a long phrase.This soft velvet ribbon of sound, given various colours, served to evoke, among other qualities, the anxiety of a boy’s beating heart in “Schlagende Herzen,” naive sweetness in “Nachtgang” and wintry gloom in “Mein Herz Ist Stumm.” Impressive control of upper and lower registers made for seamless connections between them in the last phrase of the lovely “Die Nacht.”…The Mahler songs…offered an even greater range of characterization for Schwanewilms’s dramatic skill.”
The Washington Post
Otello | Barbican Hall, London | December 2009
“…the Act IV ‘Willow Song’ was an extremely poignant mixture of regret, sadness, and courage…Anne Schwanewilms’s Desdemona crossed herself at the end of the ‘Ave Maria’ and ‘expired’ in her seat to offer a final hint of the real drama of Verdi’s great tragedy.”
musicweb-international.com
“…her ‘Willow Song’ was exquisite.”
The Times
“Desdemona’s purity and incorruptibility were perfectly evoked in the unearthly silvery soprano of Anne Schwanewilms…”
intermezzo.typepad.com
“Anne Schwanewilms was also unexpected casting as Desdemona – we know her from her outstanding interpretations of Germanic repertoire…However, she does know how to float high pianissimos and has the power needed for the Act Three finale. Dramatically she was extremely convincing, and her Act Four ‘Willow Song’ and ‘Ave Maria’ scene was profound.”
classicalsource.com
“Translucent-toned Anne Schwanewilms was cast a little against the Italianate ideal of Desdemona…Still, my old English master…would have approved her poise and sympathy. In short, she was a Pre-Raphaelite madonna rather than Verdi’s more fleshly Titian woman. You felt that if anyone could have willed this Otello to engage, she would have managed it…when making chamber music alone with Sir Colin and the LSO in the eerie twilight of the ‘Willow Song’ and the pure relief of the ‘Ave Maria.”
theartsdesk.com
“Anne Schwanewilms is a great Straussian (when will we see her Marschallin at Covent Garden?)…The Act 3 ensemble was ravishing and Act 4 was simply sublime. Schwanewilms’s ‘Willow Song’ was utterly beautiful, with a still, concentrated sadness that only she among current sopranos can bring…”
whatsonstage.com
Four Last Songs | Barbican Hall, London | October 2009
“….sung with cool detachment yet haunting beauty by the soprano Anne Schwanewilms…”
Daily Telegraph
“As the evening’s centrepiece, Anne Schwanewilms joined the BBCSO for a serene performance of Strauss’s ‘Four Last Songs’. Her soprano behaved like a solo obbligato instrument, perfectly placed within the translucent orchestra textures, and soaring with entirely human fervour into Strauss’s magic sphere of night.”
The Times
Arabella – Frankfurt, 2009
The Liederabend as a source of musical energy (London 2009)
“Anne Schwanewilms may be one of the greatest Strauss sopranos of her generation, but her feet have remained firmly on the ground – her career is rooted in common sense and uncommon directness…she knew she wanted to develop her concert and recital career, and to sing opera with a Lieder-singer’s attention to detail; but she also knew that to accomplish this she couldn’t expand into roles that are the province of the stentorian guard, roles in which, above all, people expect very loud notes…She is, as always, direct about her priorities: ‘For me, opera is only a part of my career. Recitals give me musical experiences that are fundamental to my development. To play so many different roles within a short space of time: that’s the central difficulty of the Lieder recital, and the challenge I love most of all.’…’In vocal terms I need to build from a base: if the base is correct, I can keep a vocal line filled with energy, with different emotions. I can play my voice like an organ, blending the colours.’ And then again we’re back to Lieder singing. Anne Schwanewilms knows that with a 100-piece orchestra and complicated stage business her flexibility will be inevitably reduced: but the kinds of exchanges that happen in song recitals, between a singer, an accompanist and an audience, will always be ideal for her – something to be reached out for in any operatic performance. It’s a lifetime’s project, and a noble one…”
Extracts from a profile and Interview in Opera Magazine, January, 2009
Four Last Songs | Musikverein, Vienna | April 2009
“Anne Schwanewilms was brilliant, and her soprano voice always perfectly intoned. The artist was always able to make her beautiful voice rise above the sound of the orchestra, even when Maestro Luigi slightly exaggerated the volume.”
Kurier
“The most precious instrument is the human voice when it is completely mastered. Anne Schwanewilms proved this in her interpretation of Strauss’s FOUR LAST SONGS. Her soprano voice is perfect for Strauss and Wagner, and it has all the brilliance, warmth, suppleness and technical mastery necessary here. Her intensive performance actually blended so well with the orchestral sound that one may well have considered it a solo instrument.”
Oesterreich
“..the orchestra had rolled out a golden carpet for soloist Anne Schwanewilms, whose phrasing was impeccable against this luxuriating backdrop ….”
Die Presse
“Anne Schwanewilms, who gave her State Opera debut here as recently as last March in the role of Arabella, has a powerfully emotional voice: her intuitive sense for Strauss’ musical character is utterly convincing….”
Krone
“Anne Schwanewilms, who recently sang ARABELLA here, now sang Strauss’s FOUR LAST SONGS. The calm work of an older man flowed along broadly, finding its ideal interpreter in Schwanewilms. Her intensely-coloured soprano voice blended perfectly with the warm orchestral sound, particularly in the last song.”
Wiener Zeitung
Arabella | Frankfurt Opera | January 2009
“Schwanewilms was ideally cast…with her radiant, iridescent voice…”
Opera
“Anne Schwanewilms’s role-debut as Arabella is a sensation. Her acting is sensitive and subtle, the slender voice-production and brilliant expressiveness entirely convincing. Her freely flowing soprano combines tenderness with intensity and is the emotional focus of the whole evening.”
Hanauer Anzeiger
“In Anne Schwanewilms as Arabella and Britta Stallmeister as Zdenka, the Frankfurt Opera has singers who not only fulfill the immense demands of their own roles brilliantly, but also harmonize with each other to perfection. The famous duet of the two sisters, “Aber der richtige…”, was the first magical moment of many which made this performance musically so exceptional. In the closing scene of the first act (‘Mein Elemer!’) Schwanewilms made credible the basic theme of Hofmannsthal’s libretto, Arabella’s transformation from frivolous and pleasure-seeking girl into openly loving woman. Her performance dramatised Arabella’s ever-deepening maturity, turning her finally into a younger sister of the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier. She began the evening using a deliberately light, almost dry tone and saved her most blooming legato for the great scene of forgiveness at the end.”
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung