Meyerbeer: Grand Opera (Casebound)
Diana Damrau, Orchestre Ed Choeur De L'Opera National De Lyon, Emmanuel Villaume- Le Prophète (1849): Mon coeur s’élance et palpite Berthe
- Robert Le Diable (1831): Robert, toi que j’aime Isabelle
- Alimelek, Oder: Die Beiden Kalifen (1814) Nur in der Dämm’rung Stille Irene
- L’étoile Du Nord (1854) Ah, mon Dieu !... C’est bien l’air que chaque matin Catherine
- L’africaine (1865) Là-bas, sous l’arbre noir... Fleurs nouvelles Inès
- Il Crociato In Egitto (1824) D’una madre disperata...Con qual gioia Palmide
- Le Pardon De Ploërmel (1859) (DINORAH) Comme cette nuit est lente à se dissiper !... Ombre légère Dinorah
- Ein Feldlager In Schlesien (1844) Oh Schwester, find’ ich dich!... Lebe wohl, geliebte Schwester Therese
- Emma Di Resburgo (1819) Sulla rupe triste, sola...Ah questo bacio Emma 6:38
- Les Huguenots (1836) Ô beau pays de la Touraine Marguerite
- L’africaine (1865) Anna, qu’entends-je...“Adieu, mon doux rivage” Inès
Giacomo Meyerbeer, the master of Parisian grand opéra, was hugely successful in his time and a major influence on Verdi and Wagner. His music has fascinated Diana Damrau since her student days. With her brilliant coloratura, lyricism and dramatic power, the soprano rises triumphantly to the vocal and expressive challenges of arias from 10 of his operas, singing in French, Italian and German. Two of the arias receive their world premiere recording with this album.
The idea of a Meyerbeer album has been close to Diana Damrau’s heart since she first recorded for Erato back in 2006. She became fascinated by the composer’s music as a student in Würzburg, when she was invited to perform his cantata Gli amori di Teolinda. “I immersed myself in Meyerbeer’s world,” she explains, “and was excited by his multifaceted writing for the voice, by his orchestral colours, his theatrical instincts, the powerful and varied way in which he expresses emotion, his splendid melodies and, last but not least, his ability to capture precisely the right ‘national style’. If you compare his Italian, German and French works, it is like listening to three different composers.”