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Portrait Of A Great Soprano

Rudy Avila | Lennox, Ca United States | 11/21/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This album features several great performances of the incredible high dramatic and lyric German soprano Edda Moser. She was a soprano in the "grand" tradition, though she is lesser known except for the few and faithful fans who know her intimately through having seen her in performances in Europe and through her recordings. Edda Moser was the daughter of Hans Joachim Moser, an esteemed German music philosopher. Her Met debut was as one of the Rhinemaidens in Wagner's Das Rheingold. Most people are familiar with Moser through her incredible performance as Dona Ana in Joseph Losey's film version of Don Giovanni starring Ruggero Raimondi and the famous Kiri Te Kenawa as Dona Elvira, this being back in 1979.



Her training was mostly in German opera but she excelled in the Italian operas of Mozart: Dona Ana in Don Giovanni, The Queen of the Night In The Magic Flute, diva roles in Idomeneo and Mitridate and her Puccini role was of Liu in Turandot. She was also a hot item in German operetta (Suppe's Boccacio is among a recording of such)and German Lieder- Schubert's Paradise Und Peri. She sang the soprano part in Rossini's Stabat Mater, not an easy task for a singer. In this sense, Edda Moser was a bit like Birgit Nilsson, who sang the difficult high tessituras in several operas. Her voice was heavy and dramatic but lyric and spinto so it was hard for her to take on roles such as Tosca or Norma. She was a champion of rare operas at a time when revivals were making it possible for such operas as Mozart's Idomeneo to be performed even today. Mozart's Mitridate should be performed with more frequency and Moser's performance in that opera shows why. This collection showcases much of her talents, particularily in the German/Mozart repertoire. She makes the best Queen of the Night ever and her Dona Ana raises the bar for sopranos today. Some German Lieder and rare treasures are also in her arsenal and this album truly captures her in all her glory. Fans will be thrilled. Novices will be pleased."