# Lise Davidsen



## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

A thrilling new soprano today at 1 pm DST from Oslo on the Met HD series. Worth every penny.


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## Barbebleu (May 17, 2015)

Absolutely. I’ve just been listening to her Wagner/Strauss album. Super stuff.


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## Hele (Aug 26, 2020)

Lise Davidsen and Saioa Hernandez are two sopranos I find really interesting these days. Not fully blooming yet, but there's promise, to be sure.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

A wonderful voice. She still needs to get more experience. I also liked her Strauss / Wagner album.


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## JoeSaunders (Jan 29, 2015)

God damn she's fantastic.


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## vivalagentenuova (Jun 11, 2019)

I listened to a rehearsal clip the Met posted. I was not into her sound at all.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

So far I've only heard the Strauss/Wagner disc which I didn't like it all. When it comes to the _Vier letzte Lieder_ we might quibble about the various merits of Schwarzkopf, Janowitz and Popp, of Norman, Te Kanawa and Fleming, but one thing they all had in common was a basically beautiful timbre. I hear very little of beauty in the over-vibrant sound of the voice itself. The intonation is quite often suspect, and I deplore this habit of starting a note flat and vibrato-less than adding more and more vibrato to it as she swells the tone. Nothing very interesting interpretively either.

I understand that it's a very large voice and some of the youtube clips of her have impressed me a bit more. I was supposed to be seeing her as Leonore in *Fidelio* earlier this year, but of course COVID put paid to that.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

She needs to continue working in her interpretative talents, to be sure. But in terms of her voice and her singing, you can't expect Davidsen to be in the same league as much lighter voices. Now, how should be the Four Last Songs sung in Strauss's mind?. We have a very good clue, just listening to the singer that premiered the piece, back in 1948:






Davidsen's impressive soprano is much more similar to her compatriot Flagstad's than any of the more lyrical voices that are often approached the song cycle in the last decades.

Give her time to hone her vocal acting skills, to mature, and I think we can be before a real dramatic soprano of the highest caliber.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

schigolch said:


> Davidsen's impressive soprano is much more similar to her compatriot Flagstad's than any of the more lyrical voices that are often approached the song cycle in the last decades.
> 
> Give her time to hone her vocal acting skills, to mature, and I think we can be before a real dramatic soprano of the highest caliber.


True, but I hear much more of beauty in Flagstad's singing (even if she has to duck a couple of high notes). She also has a much better legato. Norman wasn't exactly a lyric soprano either but her singing too is much more sheerly beautiful than Davidsen's.

Maybe the Strauss and Wagner Lieder weren't the best vehicles to showcase Davidsen's talents. Something more dramatic and declamatory might have govene a better impression of her gifts.


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## Andante Cantabile (Feb 26, 2020)

This is the YT upload of the complete ROH Covent Garden production of _Fidelio_ this year starring Davidsen. This role apparently provides ample opportunities for her gifts to shine.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

https://www.talkclassical.com/61688-lise-davidsen.html?highlight=Lise+Davidsen

https://www.talkclassical.com/64899-lise-davidsen.html?highlight=Lise+Davidsen


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

The Four Last songs were indeed the less strong piece of the recording, but very nice nonetheless.






This "Es gibt ein Reich", from Strauss's _Ariadne auf Naxos_ is almost magical. The low notes at the start of the aria are impressive and yet a few bars later she is able to rise to the highs of Straussian's score, and always with an almost insulting ease and confidence. True, it's a recording, and not live singing, But then you listen to her Glyndebourne performance and it's (almost) as spectacular:


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## vivalagentenuova (Jun 11, 2019)

> Davidsen's impressive soprano is much more similar to her compatriot Flagstad's than any of the more lyrical voices that are often approached the song cycle in the last decades.
> 
> Give her time to hone her vocal acting skills, to mature, and I think we can be before a real dramatic soprano of the highest caliber.


I don't think it's a matter of vocal acting skills. Other than the fact that Davidsen has a larger voice than we're used to right now, I really don't hear any similarity to Flagstad. Flagstad's voice was rock solid and had a bright golden sheen to it. Davidsen's voice is hollow in the middle, and often becomes ugly when put under stress.

Listen to the word "verlangte" in the very first phrase of the aria. When Davidsen sings it, the vibrato widens, the tone goes harsh, and the vowel "ah" becomes "uhh". It has no bloom.





When Flagstad sings "verlangte" on the other hand, her voice blooms beautifully and the vibrato is steady. The tone is not harsh at all, but in fact becomes even more beautiful.





If you listen for that ugly "uhh" sound in Davidsen's voice generally, you will hear it everywhere. You will never, ever hear Flagstad make that sound, even when she's 62 years old. It's the technique. Davidsen will unfortunately not mature into an artist like Flagstad unless she gets a new technique. It's a shame, as she clearly has a lot of talent.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Augastine said:


> This is the YT upload of the complete ROH Covent Garden production of Fidelio this year starring Davidsen. She is undoubtedly quite impressive in this role, which provides ample opportunities for her gifts to shine.


I'm sorry I missed her when some of this year's performances were cancelled due to coronavirus, though I'm still a little worried by a lack of a true legato. At times she seems to proceed note by note and doesn't bind them together in a long line. \but it'd evidently a fine instrument and I'm sorry I didn't get to hear her in the theatre.

On a separate note, what on earth is all that nonsense about having Marzelline sit in on her during _Abscheulicher_, thereby discovering that Fidelio is a woman? Apart from there being absolutely no justification for this, I just wonder why the producer couldn't trust the music and the singer to make an emtional impact without all this extraneous stage business. It just isn't necessary and does the singer (in this case Davidsen) a great disservice.


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## Andante Cantabile (Feb 26, 2020)

Tsaraslondon said:


> On a separate note, what on earth is all that nonsense about having Marzelline sit in on her during _Abscheulicher_, thereby discovering that Fidelio is a woman? Apart from there being absolutely no justification for this, I just wonder why the producer couldn't trust the music and the singer to make an emtional impact without all this extraneous stage business. It just isn't necessary and does the singer (in this case Davidsen) a great disservice.


Yes, the production seems nonsensical to me too, not only during the "Abscheulicher"; there is also no justification for having Marzelline shoot Don Pizzaro to death at the climax of the confrontation scene.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

"Not fully blooming but has promise"??
I am bewildered by that statement unless perhaps you might be referring to her acting skills. But these were simply arias and songs so there isn't much room to show if she has good acting skills as well.
I find her to be an exquisite new talent and an addition sorely needed to the list of top dramatic sopranos.
She is a wonder and we've got her. Long may she reign. (In my opinion only of course)


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

vivalagentenuova said:


> I don't think it's a matter of vocal acting skills. Other than the fact that Davidsen has a larger voice than we're used to right now, I really don't hear any similarity to Flagstad. Flagstad's voice was rock solid and had a bright golden sheen to it. Davidsen's voice is hollow in the middle, and often becomes ugly when put under stress.
> 
> Listen to the word "verlangte" in the very first phrase of the aria. When Davidsen sings it, the vibrato widens, the tone goes harsh, and the vowel "ah" becomes "uhh". It has no bloom.
> 
> ...


Who will blossom into an artist like Flagstad?. If we measure by this criteria, there will be very few singers indeed who can reach this height.

But Ms. Davidsen's voice does remind one of Flagstad's. Where you hear this "vibrato widens, tone goes hard", I hear a totally different thing, an expanding sound both precise and beautiful.

What is your proposal for a "new technique" in this case?.

I do think that the major challenge for Ms. Davidsen will be to become a vocal actress, what she clearly is not today. The rest, I think is already fine. Though most probably she will never be a second Flagstad. But then again, who will?.


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## vivalagentenuova (Jun 11, 2019)

> Who will blossom into an artist like Flagstad?. If we measure by this criteria, there will be very few singers indeed who can reach this height.


I'm fine with saying that Flagstad was an exceptional singer, and she was certainly in the top 5 on record. Certainly there are many singers of tremendous accomplishment and worth who do not measure up to Flagstad, and I don't mean to say any singer who isn't Flagstad is bad. I didn't bring up Flagstad. When people are comparing Davidsen's sound to Flagstad's, howevern, then I'll say I think she doesn't measure up and that I think the comparison is wrong.



> But Ms. Davidsen's voice does remind one of Flagstad's. Where you hear this "vibrato widens, tone goes hard", I hear a totally different thing, an expanding sound both precise and beautiful.


Different people hear differently and have different tastes, and that's fine with me. To me, though, it sounds like the sound is out of control at that moment. Precise is the last word I'd use for it. To my ear, it is very different from how Flagstad's sound on that phrase, and I think based on my reading and listening that the difference is due to technique, not to individual variation of voices.



> What is your proposal for a "new technique" in this case?.


Unfortunately, I don't know of anybody who teaches people how to sing like Flagstad right now. If they were there, I'd say she should go to them. If she were able to adjust her technique, I think she would make an excellent dramatic soprano. As it is, it sounds to me like she will eventually end up sounding like Stemme does now. I think there's not enough chest voice in her sound because her registers weren't developed and coordinated properly, and that this results in a lot of impure vowels, loss of core or squillo, and vibrato problems. I don't hear any of those faults in Flagstad's singing.



> I do think that the major challenge for Ms. Davidsen will be to become a vocal actress, what she clearly is not today. The rest, I think is already fine. Though most probably she will never be a second Flagstad. But then again, who will?.


Flagstad was able to become the vocal actress and expressive artist that she was _because_ of her technique. I have realized from reading Cornelius Reid (thank you, Conte) just how important registration is to expression. Flagstad can use registration to create any tone quality she wants at any pitch at any volume (obviously I'm speaking loosely here). Vocal acting comes from having properly coordinated registers, or at least from having developed though not fully coordinated registers. That's how old school singers would act. The reason I don't think it's going to help Davidsen to develop great vocal acting skills is that without proper registration, she can't! The voice simply cannot create the variety and kinds of sounds that are necessary to fully illuminate the music. What we're left with now is all manner of whispering, sputtering, gasping, and acting for the camera to make up for the fact that singers cannot access their full expressive range.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

I think her technique is fine now. Still don't understand what you mean by "adjust her technique". Adjust to what?. How?. Do you think she has breathing problems?. The voice is not well supported?. 

Why is not precise?. Are you saying that she is out of tune?. In which note(s) of the Ariadne youtube is happening that?. We can go to the score and check.

When you speak about whispering, sputtering and gasping, I can only think you are speaking of someone else, really.

As usual, time will tell. My prediction is that five years from now, Ms. Davidsen will be a big star in the Wagner and Strauss repertoire, she will be singing Isolde to great acclaim, and her agenda fully booked.

Let's find out in 2025. :tiphat:


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

You can never tell, there are all sorts of unforeseen events that could end a career. I still haven't seen Davidsen live and can't comment until I have, however, she has raised a lot of interest and since there aren't many others singing her rep she will no likely do well. However, I would like to see how Ricarda Merbeth develops (she was a superb Elektra in Berlin).

N.


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## Bonetan (Dec 22, 2016)

vivalagentenuova said:


> Unfortunately, I don't know of anybody who teaches people how to sing like Flagstad right now. If they were there, I'd say she should go to them. If she were able to adjust her technique, I think she would make an excellent dramatic soprano. As it is, it sounds to me like she will eventually end up sounding like Stemme does now. I think there's not enough chest voice in her sound because her registers weren't developed and coordinated properly, and that this results in a lot of impure vowels, loss of core or squillo, and vibrato problems. I don't hear any of those faults in Flagstad's singing.





schigolch said:


> As usual, time will tell. My prediction is that five years from now, Ms. Davidsen will be a big star in the Wagner and Strauss repertoire, she will be singing Isolde to great acclaim, and her agenda fully booked.


I think both of these things are pretty accurate lol


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## Hele (Aug 26, 2020)

nina foresti said:


> "Not fully blooming but has promise"??
> I am bewildered by that statement unless perhaps you might be referring to her acting skills. But these were simply arias and songs so there isn't much room to show if she has good acting skills as well.
> I find her to be an exquisite new talent and an addition sorely needed to the list of top dramatic sopranos.
> She is a wonder and we've got her. Long may she reign. (In my opinion only of course)


What can I say? Yes, I do like her and I have followed her career path, although she has her flaws (like everybody does). I have been here around the week, reading hundreds of posts. And realized, that probably I shouldn'd write anything. First, my english is not so good to express my thoughts completely, secondly I'm just a person who has loved opera most of her life, but I guess lacks argumentative skills.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

I disagree with your opinion of yourself. I welcome you with open arms to our forum.
You are very much needed and every idea is a decent one. You don't have to agree with everyone, nor they with you and yet we all have a right to our opinions.
Your English is fine and if you feel you don't have "argumentative" (your word) skills, who cares? Your feelings are legitimate and are yours alone.
I know nothing more about Lise Davidsen than anyone else. I only express how I perceive her -- right or wrong.
Enjoy your posts and don't be afraid to express yourself.
Most posters here are very kind and welcoming.:tiphat:


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## Hele (Aug 26, 2020)

nina foresti said:


> I disagree with your opinion of yourself. I welcome you with open arms to our forum.
> You are very much needed and every idea is a decent one. You don't have to agree with everyone, nor they with you and yet we all have a right to our opinions.
> Your English is fine and if you feel you don't have "argumentative" (your word) skills, who cares? Your feelings are legitimate and are yours alone.
> I know nothing more about Lise Davidsen than anyone else. I only express how I perceive her -- right or wrong.
> ...


Thank you for your kind words! To be honest, there are SO many interesting posts here and I really do appreciate these endless possibilities to learn! Right now I have the feeling, that I know nothing (although I have studied singing, worked as a singer and been fascinated by opera almost 25 years) and other people know everything, but it's a good feeling - like I'm 17 again and fully discovering the world of opera


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

Hele said:


> Thank you for your kind words! To be honest, there are SO many interesting posts here and I really do appreciate these endless possibilities to learn! Right now I have the feeling, that I know nothing (although I have studied singing, worked as a singer and been fascinated by opera almost 25 years) and other people know everything, but it's a good feeling - like I'm 17 again and fully discovering the world of opera


You need to remember that, as with most other online sites, there are as many people who know more than they admit to as there are those who know less than they think they do. It takes a while to sort out which are which!


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Becca hit the nail on the head.
If you only knew how much I have learned from different opera forums, including 3 or 4 right here at this forum. Even at my "age" (ahem!) I find there is always something new to learn.


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## Viardots (Oct 4, 2014)

Many quarters have been falling all over Davidsen as the new dramatic soprano hopeful, yet this latest review of her recently released operatic arias recital album on Decca provides a timely, sobering assessment of her strengths and shortcomings:

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2021/Apr/Davidsen-recital-4851507.htm


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## Bonetan (Dec 22, 2016)

Viardots said:


> Many quarters have been falling all over Davidsen as the new dramatic soprano hopeful, yet this latest review of her recently released operatic arias recital album on Decca provides a timely, sobering assessment of her strengths and shortcomings:
> 
> http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2021/Apr/Davidsen-recital-4851507.htm


Thanks for sharing! A very interesting read.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Viardots said:


> Many quarters have been falling all over Davidsen as the new dramatic soprano hopeful, yet this latest review of her recently released operatic arias recital album on Decca provides a timely, sobering assessment of her strengths and shortcomings:
> 
> http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2021/Apr/Davidsen-recital-4851507.htm


And yet : Presto called it Disc of the week.


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## Viardots (Oct 4, 2014)

Bonetan said:


> Thanks for sharing! A very interesting read.


You're welcome


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## Viardots (Oct 4, 2014)

Rogerx said:


> And yet : Presto called it Disc of the week.


...and one of _The Gramophone_ Editor's choices for the month of April 2021, if you want to name more accolades.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Viardots said:


> ...and one of _The Gramophone_ Editor's choices for the month of April 2021, if you want to name more accolades.


No, I don't . I was being sarcastic.


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## Viardots (Oct 4, 2014)

Rogerx said:


> No, I don't . I was being sarcastic.


Don't worry, my sarcasm is directed entirely towards _The Gramophone_. And I think they are overdoing themselves by making her the cover personality for the April 2021 issue. Such widespread, blazing publicity and promotion for an artist still at a relatively early stage of her career may end up doing her no favours, as she is still developing as a singer and artist.



According to Ralph Moore, there are already in the air talks of her singing Isolde within a few years' time. Hope she could be wise enough not to tackle it too soon.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Ralph Moore is quite specific in his criticisms and he doesn't fall back on vague imagery and cliches, something we can't expect routinely from critics of operatic singing. I suspect I would agree with most of what he said.


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## Viardots (Oct 4, 2014)

Woodduck said:


> Ralph Moore is quite specific in his criticisms and he doesn't fall back on vague imagery and cliches, something we can't expect routinely from critics of operatic singing. I suspect I would agree with most of what he said.


Some of the tracks from the CD (full piece for each) have been put up on YouTube by Decca for sampling.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Woodduck said:


> Ralph Moore is quite specific in his criticisms and he doesn't fall back on vague imagery and cliches, something we can't expect routinely from critics of operatic singing. I suspect I would agree with most of what he said.


I haven't heard this album, but I did listen to her first and many of his comments mirror my own feelings about the first album. I really don't think she is the _hochdramatische_ we have all been waiting for. I particularly disliked her habit of starting a note white and vibratoless then adding the vibrato as she swells the note. This habit also impedes her legato.

She is being discussed as a young, developing artist, but she is now 34. I would expect her to be showing more artistic maturity by now.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Viardots said:


> Some of the tracks from the CD (full piece for each) have been put up on YouTube by Decca for sampling.


The whole album is on Spotify. I will try and have a listen, but, as Ralph Moore's criticisms are so close to my own of the first album, I have a feeling I'm not going to be impressed.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Viardots said:


> Don't worry, my sarcasm is directed entirely towards _The Gramophone_. And I think they are overdoing themselves by making her the cover personality for the April 2021 issue. Such widespread, blazing publicity and promotion for an artist still at a relatively early stage of her career may end up doing her no favours, as she is still developing as a singer and artist.
> 
> 
> 
> According to Ralph Moore, there are already in the air talks of her singing Isolde within a few years' time. Hope she could be wise enough not to fall for it.


Well she is already in her mid thirties. If she really is the _hochdramatische_ we are being told she is, then she should indeed be thinking of singing Isolde and Brünnhilde in a couple of years time. After all both Flagstad and Nilsson were in their mid thirties when they first took on those roles.


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## Viardots (Oct 4, 2014)

Tsaraslondon said:


> Well she is already in her mid thirties. If she really is the _hochdramatische_ we are being told she is, then she should indeed be thinking of singing Isolde and Brünnhilde *in a couple of years time*. After all both Flagstad and Nilsson were in their mid thirties when they first took on those roles.


Moore keeps remarking on the weakness of her lower register in his review and fears for her endurance if she tackles Isolde too soon. This implies that she at least needs to work harder on strengthening her lower register to improve her sustaining power before taking on the _hochdramatische_ roles. I'm no vocal expert and thus in no position at all to give deeper analysis of what she should and should not do. Others who do possess knowledge and expertise in the field could perhaps comment more substantially on that.


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## vivalagentenuova (Jun 11, 2019)

I listened to selections from the new album, and I think Moore is spot on. I too appreciate his specificity. Vague vocal criticism (positive or negative) is one of my pet peeves, and it allows critics to praise singers without having to actually point to anything good that they did. At least if you give specifics, people can respond to your arguments. I feel the same way about musical, literary, visual arts, film etc. criticism.

Anyway, here's my specifics. Just like with the Dich teure halle, there's a very squally sound that she has that is deeply unpleasant and a consistent feature of her voice. Here's an example:





You can hear it really strongly at 2:10-13, on the "fatalita'" at 2:26 (fatalita' indeed!), on "quest'alma" at 3:25, and the "maledizione"s at 5:17 and following. Of course, this sound isn't limited to those places, it's just strongest there. It's everywhere in her voice, and it makes her sound effortful and lethargic (the slow tempo doesn't help much). She's clearly trying to be expressive, but it comes across as just that, trying to be expressive, instead of as expression, because the mechanism can't support whatever she's trying to do.

For comparison, take Anita Cerqueti, by no means a perfect singer, but several steps above what Davidsen is giving here. If you listen to the same phrases, you hear less of that squalliness, though it does come out at certain moments, but overall the voice is much cleaner and freer.





Then take it back even further, and Dusolina Giannini shows us what it means to actually sound like Flagstad in this music: clean, strong, bright (but not insipid, with plenty of scuro) tone.





Her "maledizione" and "fatalita" vs. Davidsen's show everything that it wrong with singing now.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

This is a qualified endorsement. If all goes as planned, she will be the next big name in Italian and German dramatic soprano roles. I would rather see Radvanovsky in anything Verdi, but other than that I would likely just as soon see her as anyone else around today. She is beautiful so video will love her and her voice is acceptable. I could think of about 7 sopranos of generations past I would much rather hear in a recording, though. She appears to be early 30's and I think she will have developed the current Nina Stimme type of vibrato in a decade, although Stemme started out better than Davidsen with a much prettier voice. Her voice is much better up high than down low.


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## Revitalized Classics (Oct 31, 2018)

vivalagentenuova said:


> I listened to selections from the new album, and I think Moore is spot on. I too appreciate his specificity. Vague vocal criticism (positive or negative) is one of my pet peeves, and it allows critics to praise singers without having to actually point to anything good that they did. At least if you give specifics, people can respond to your arguments. I feel the same way about musical, literary, visual arts, film etc. criticism.
> 
> Anyway, here's my specifics. Just like with the Dich teure halle, there's a very squally sound that she has that is deeply unpleasant and a consistent feature of her voice. Here's an example:
> 
> ...


Thanks for the interesting comparisons: Cerquetti and particularly Giannini's performances sound much more spontaneous.

By the time I'm noticing Davidsen's way of starting a note without vibrato - then superimposing it - that is kind of a warning sign that I'm not really invested in the performance, not caught up in the words, the drama etc.


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## silentio (Nov 10, 2014)

She is so underwhelming in Verdi's Requiem. In the _Libera me_, she sounds labored yet still eclipsed by the orchestra (whose playing, by the way, is annoyingly tamed and lackluster).






The next great Isolde? The next Flagstad, who could navigate effortlessly in violent and tricky passages like this? No way.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

I started her "Pace, pace" and was baffled by the engineering. The orchestra sounded normal, but then Davidsen seemed to be out in an empty, echoey corridor. Terrible. Was it intended to hide her vocal deficiencies, the way singing in the shower makes me sound like Bjorling (Ok, not really)? Well, it doesn't succeed. She does not sound good here, not even as good as I remembered her. Sad to say, it's rather typical modern singing, in all the ways others have pointed out. 

We'll have to wait a bit longer for the successor to Flagstad and Nilsson. Or a lot longer.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Woodduck:
I just finished listening to Davidsen's "Pace, pace " and see exactly what you were referring to.
I'll be surprised if she wasn't singing in an echo chamber. I am familiar with that sound having worked in recording studios half of my life.
Despite her good power, for some odd reason I found her delivery lacking that ping of Tebaldi's, who also had mega power and used it to advantage in this aria.
Perhaps it was the fault of the recording itself, or sometimes the airwaves do not treat a singer's voice kindly, because when I saw her in person she was an entirely different animal back in August at her recital.
Or maybe it was simply the aria that didn't suit her as much as a more heavy Straussian or Wagnerian offering.
It will be interesting to watch and see if she develops into something special. (or not.)


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

nina foresti said:


> Woodduck:
> I just finished listening to Davidsen's "Pace, pace " and see exactly what you were referring to.
> I'll be surprised if she wasn't singing in an echo chamber. I am familiar with that sound having worked in recording studios half of my life.
> Despite her good power, for some odd reason I found her delivery lacking that ping of Tebaldi's, who also had mega power and used it to advantage in this aria.
> ...


The recording is very unfair to her. Her voice is undoubtedly large, and it should be allowed to make what impact it can, even if her technical faults are clearer as well.


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## ALT (Mar 1, 2021)

Despite the better than average voice, the new album does not move the needle on the plus side. It is also mostly poorly conducted by Mark Elder. For example, Santuzza's "Voi lo sapete". Slow as molasses and one can't understand her Italian, try as one might.






Compare with this unknown Turkish mezzo, one Ezgi Kutlu, who I think has an inferior instrument relative to Davidsen's but who better channels the character. It is also much better and organically conducted by Oksana Lyniv. (_Cheryl Studer_ is the Mamma Lucia here).






The Beethoven selections also didn't cut it. Elder manages to make the orchestra sound like a period band. Why? The best are the Wesendonck but even there we have heard far more compelling renditions. So, overall, there is nothing in this album that is memorable or that sticks to mind or ear.


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

I watched some of a Walkure Act 1 from Munich, with Davidsen, Kaufmann, and Zeppenfeld (Asher Fisch conducted). I found her much more impressive here than I have on her commercial recordings.


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