Voices - Live and Studio Recordings 1952-2007

Chandos Records is proud to release a 2-CD collection featuring the legendary Danish soprano Inga Nielsen.

This collection embraces this artist's astonishingly wide ranging repertoire, from some of the most demanding roles in the operatic repertoire to lieder and operetta - Pergolesi to Schoenberg and Jerome Kern. It has been released to celebrate the thirty-fifth anniversary of her debut as a professional singer.

Much of this material is rare and, with the exception of one item, appears on CD for the first time. It includes many of the roles in which Inga Nielsen has been especially associated with on stage. Included are recent performances of her Chrysothemis (Elektra), Kaiserin (Die Frau ohne Schatten) and Leonore (Fidelio), roles for which she has received tremendous acclaim.

This set also includes guest appearances of Plácido Domingo, as well as the young Antonio Pappano, as both conductor and pianist/accompanist. As a bonus, there is a track recorded when Miss Nielsen was six years old, accompanied by her father, and also two further examples of her very early singing career from this time.

The accompanying booklet is lavishly illustrated with many photographs, and Inga Nielsen herself provides the illuminating sleeve notes. The 2-CDs are available at mid price.
The versatile Danish soprano Inga Nielsen was very much a child prodigy, making her first professional recording at the age of nine singing Danish folksongs and Christmas carols for Columbia Records.

These two CDs span a period of more than fifty years, from her first ever recording, made at the age of six accompanied by her father, all the way through to the latest recordings made in August 2006 and April 2007. The set marks the thirty-fifth anniversary of her debut as a professional singer and demonstrates the range of her talent in performances of opera, oratorio, lieder, operetta, spirituals and musicals. Inga Nielsen has personally selected the repertoire from the large archive of her recordings.

Inga Nielsen has performed with some star players in the operatic world, and it is great joy for her that so many are included in this retrospective. Plácido Domingo has given permission for their recording of 'Toi! Vous! Oui… c'est moi!' from Massenet's Manon to be included. This is complemented by performances conducted by such greats as Antonio Pappano in La traviata, Lamberto Gardelli in Pergolesi's Stabat Mater and Gustav Kuhn in Lucia di Lammermoor.

In 1992 the Queen of Denmark honoured Inga Nielsen by appointing her Knight of the Order of Dannebrog, equivalent of the English DBE.

Reviews
'Reviews from some of her recent performances:
As Strauss's Salome, she is regarded by many as definitive…'
The Guardian

'Nielsen is an extraordinary, magnificent singing actress in the title role. Her voice has something of the legendary Ljuba Welitsch's girlish innocence, and her way with the text reveals an artist totally attuned to every dramatic nuance that Strauss offers… Comparisons with such illustrious names as Nilsson, Borkh, and Goltz are completely justified.'
Amazon.com