The Very Best of Lucia Popp
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Lucia Popp
This is a magnificent album; she had a superb voice and the person who selected the songs of this album picked her "very best."
Beautiful compilation (4.5 stars)
Lucia Popp came from my home country of Slovakia. In 1963, she took her chance and, as the amazingly talented 24-year-old ingenue, accepted the offer to sing in Vienna. She crossed the iron curtain. This for a long time made her and undesirable element in the Communist Czechoslovakia. Only after the collapse of Soviet block in 1989 she gained the due recognition also in her homeland. Tragically, just four years later she died of cancer, aged only 54...
What she left is the great body of work. She specialized on German and Austrian composers, which is evident also from this great compilation. However, anything she touched, she turned into gold.
On this double CD you can find many of her glorious recordings. Especially high recommended are all Mozart's (among them the famous Queen aria from Magic Flute) and Handel's songs, unsurpassable Dvorak and Smetana, the definitive Richard Strauss' 4 Last Songs and the beautiful Letter Scene from Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin. Also here we have her famous Carmina Burana arias from 1960's.
What is missing, though, is some more of Italian opera, represented only by one piano-accompanied Rossini. I would love to hear Lucia singing "Brindisi" from Traviata as she did to Queen Elizabeth II alongside Placido Domingo in 1986, or listen to her playing Tosca or La Boheme by Puccini. Still, a wonderful CD worth almost five complete stars.
Wonderful introduction to the art of Lucia Popp
Lucia Popp was a fine soprano in her day. Her repertoire was broad--from Grieg to Tchaikovsky to Mozart to Dvorak to Smetana to Orff to Mahler to Handel to Strauss (Richard and Johan, Jr.). This 2 CD set shows her talents off nicely. Some exemplars of her art:
Solveig's Sing, from "Peer Gynt" by Grieg: Hers is an affecting version. Popp had a rich voice that worked very well in this piece. She sings this smoothly.
"Stetit puella" from "Carmina Burana" by Orff: Well sung. She gives life to Orff's work. She displays a rich voice which produces a smooth sound in this cut.
Mahler's 4th Symphony: The vocal part of Mahler's 4th symphony is affecting and effective. Popp sings this well, an enchanting version in fact. She handles the vocal challenges of this work well.
"Voi che sapete" from Mozart's "Le Nozze di Figaro": Her rich voice fits this aria well. It's almost weird that she can sing this so well--and then do the Queen of the Night effectively! This is an evocative piece, and she captures the character pretty well, in my judgment.
"Der Holle Rache" from Mozart's "Magic Flute": And now for something completely different. . . . What a change of pace! She does a superb job in this difficult singing role; she is a credible Queen of the Night. Her staccato technique is strong; she handles the difficult and treacherous passages well--and nails the high notes cleanly and crisply.
So, what can one say after listening to this 2 CD set? Lucia Popp had considerable talent and fine technique. She was clearly one of the finer soprano talents of the latter part of the 20th century.
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