Suzanne Danco – The Decca Recitals

Contents

CD 1

OPERA ARIAS & SONGS

MOZART Così fan tutte: Come scoglio MOZART Le Nozze di Figaro: Voi che sapete

Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala /Jonel Perlea

CHARPENTIER Louise: Depuis le jour

VERDI La Traviata: E strano … Ah, fors’è lui … Sempre libera

MASSENET Manon: Allons … Adieu, notre petite table

BIZET Carmen: C’est les contrabandiers … Je dis que rien ne m’épouvante

GLUCK Alceste: Divinités du Styx

PURCELL Dido and Aeneas: Thy hand, Belinda … When I am laid in earth

L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande /Alberto Erede

RAVEL Shéhérazade

L’Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire de Paris /Ernest Ansermet

BONONCINI Deh più a me non v’ascondete*

CACCINI Amarilli mia bella*

Phyllis Spurr, piano

SCHUBERT Die schöne Mullerin – No. 2: Wohin? (Take 1)SCHUBERT Die schöne Mullerin – No. 2: Wohin? (Take 2)SCHUBERT Die Forelle*

Guido Agosti, piano

*FIRST CD RELEASE ON DECCA

CD 2

ROBERT SCHUMANN (1810–1856)

Dichterliebe, Op. 48*

Liederkreis, Op. 39*

FRANZ SCHUBERT (1797–1828)

Der Hirt auf dem Felsen, D.965 /Gervase de Peyer, clarinet

Die Forelle, D.550

Gretchen am Spinnrade, D.118

Du bist die Ruh, D.776

Der Musensohn, D.764

Guido Agosti, piano

*FIRST CD RELEASE ON DECCA

CD 3

JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833–1897)

Die Mainacht*

Wiegenlied*

Ständchen*

Wir wandelten*

Meine Liebe ist grün*

HUGO WOLF (1860–1903)

Verborgenheit*

Blumengruss*

Gleich und Gleich*

Frühling übers Jahr*

Anakreons Grab*

Elfenlied°

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756–1791)

Das Veilchen*

Abendempfindung*

Dans un bois solitaire*

An Chloë*

RICHARD STRAUSS (1864–1949)

Morgen

Ständchen

Traum durch die Dämmerung

Zueignung

Freundliche Vision

CHRISTOPH WILLIBALD GLUCK (1714–1787)

O del mio dolce ardor*

ALESSANDRO SCARLATTI (1660–1725)

Se Florinda è fidele*

ANTONIO CALDARA (1670–1736)

Come raggio del sol*

FRANCESCO DURANTE (1684–1755)

Danza, danza*

GIULIO CACCINI (1551–1618)

Amarilli mia bella*

Guido Agosti, piano

*FIRST CD RELEASE ON DECCA °PREVIOUSLY UNPUBLISHED

CD 4

CLAUDE DEBUSSY (1862–1918)

Trois Chansons de Bilitis, L.90*

Le Promenoir des deux amants, L.118*

Ariettes oubliées, L.60

GABRIEL FAURÉ (1845–1924)

La Bonne Chanson, Op. 61*

CLAUDE DEBUSSY (1862–1918)

Fêtes galantes I, L.80*

Trois Ballades de François Villon, L.119*

Guido Agosti, piano

*FIRST CD RELEASE ON DECCA

CD 5

MAURICE RAVEL (1875–1937)

Shéhérazade

Deux Mélodies hébraïques

Trois poems de Stéphane Mallarmé

L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande /Ernest Ansermet

VINCENZO BELLINI (1801–1835)

Il fervido desiderio*

Dolente imagine di fille mia*

Vanne, o rosa fortunata*

Vaga luna che inargenti*

CHARLES GOUNOD (1818–1893)

Venise*

Au rossignol*

Viens ! Les gazons sont verts !*

FRANZ SCHUBERT (1797–1828)

Ave Maria*

FELIX MENDELSSOHN (1809–1847)

Auf flügeln des Gesanges*

JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833–1897)

Wiegenlied*

CHARLES GOUNOD (1818–1893)

Sérénade*

GABRIEL FAURÉ (1845–1924)

Après un rêve*

CHARLES GOUNOD (1818–1893)

after JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685–1750)

Ave Maria*

Guido Agosti, piano

*FIRST CD RELEASE ON DECCA

CD 6

Album de Musique offert par G. Rossini à Mademoiselle Louise Carlier

ROSSINI Mi lagnerò tacendo

BELLINI Dolente imagine

PAER Ange à la voix tendre

BRUGUIÈRE Le printemps arrive (Ester Orel, mezzo-soprano)

PANSERON Il n’aurait pas dû venir

TADOLINI Com’è soave a l’anima

COSTA Trova un sol, mia bella Clori

MARLIANI La gita in gondola

MERCADANTE Aure amiche, ah! non spirate

MORLACCHI La rosa appassita

MEYERBEER Soave l’istante

BERTON Air à trois notes

BERTIN Ah, dors en paix, mon bel enfant

CHERUBINI La pietosa bugia

SPONTINI L’adieu

ONSLOW Le Dante dans le paradis

GORDIGIANI Ognuno tira l’acqua al suo mulino

BAZZINI Chi ami?

Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, piano

HECTOR BERLIOZ (1803–1869)

Les Nuits d’été

Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra /Thor Johnson

CD 7

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750)

Cantata ‘Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen!’, BWV 51

Cantata ‘Weichet nur, betrübte Schatten’, BWV 202

Stuttgarter Kammerorchester /Karl Münchinger

HEINRICH SCHÜTZ (1585–1672)

Eile mich, Gott, zu erretten, SWV 282*

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685–1750)

Bist du bei mir, BWV 508*

Warum betrübst du dich, mein Herz, BWV 516*

Komm, süsser Tod, BWV 478*

Jeanne Demessieux, organ

CD 8

Arias

strong textWOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756–1791)

Le Nozze di Figaro

Wiener Philharmoniker /Erich Kleiber

CHRISTOPH WILLIBALD GLUCK (1714–1787)

Orphée et Eurydice (Act III Scene 1)

Orchestre des Concerts Lamoureux /Hans Rosbaud

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756–1791)

Don Giovanni

Wiener Philharmoniker /Josef Krips

CLAUDE DEBUSSY (1862–1918)

Pelléas et Mélisande

MAURICE RAVEL (1875–1937)

L’Enfant et les sortilèges

L’Heure espagnole

ARTHUR HONEGGER (1892–1955)

Le Roi David

CLAUDE DEBUSSY (1862–1918)

Le Martyre de Saint Sébastien

GABRIEL FAURÉ (1845–1924)

Requiem, Op. 48

L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande /Ernest Ansermet

The complete Decca recital recordings compiled and newly remastered in tribute to a superlative Mozart soprano of the last century – released to commemorate the 20th anniversary of her passing (10 August 2000).

The Belgian-born Suzanne Danco (1911–2000) made her operatic debut in Genoa as Fiordiligi in 1941, and it seems appropriate that in July 1947 in Milan she began her Decca relationship with a selection of Mozart arias. Equally fittingly, her first operatic recording was Pelléas et Mélisande with Ernest Ansermet and L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in April 1952. Ansermet always regarded Danco as his ideal Mélisande and, like Erich Kleiber, became a valued admirer of her artistry.

Danco’s legacy on record is small but representative of her particular gifts in Mozart and French song, in which she was an almost unrivalled interpreter, leaving unforgettably refined readings of Debussy’s Fêtes galantes, Fauré’s La bonne chanson and Ravel’s Shéhérezade, among others. The Debussy and Fauré count among the highlights of a series of Decca albums made with her long-time recital partner, Guido Agosti, and compiled here complete for the first time.

There is much else in the box that is new to CD or long unavailable: a lovely 10-inch collection of lullabies, songs of Bellini and arie antiche; her refined touch applied to the German Lieder tradition, from Schubert and Schumann (including a rare soprano version of Dichterliebe) to Brahms, Wolf and Richard Strauss, all generously and intelligently chosen recitals; Danco herself regarded Schumann’s Op. 39 Liederkreis as one of her finest recordings. Wolf’s Elfenlied from sessions in December 1950 was discovered among the tapes and is published here for the first time in any format.

A delightful pendant to Danco’s recording career is an album of 18th-century songs made for Philips Classics in October 1956 near her home in Florence, made with conductor Francesco Mollinari-Pradelli at the piano. The collection closes with an anthology of highlights from her contributions to classic Decca recordings of oratorio and opera, including her Cherubino, Donna Anna, Eurydice, Mélisande and Consuela (L’heure espagnole).