Interesting comparisons there should be here between two Wagnerian divas moving over into the Strauss Fach, with special attention to the Four Last Songs, both recorded live at concerts, but there is no contest. The version by Dame Gwyneth made last year in Japan should, frankly, never have been issued. Unlike the Wagner excerpts for Chandos reviewed in February, they show her, in poor and strained voice, battling to maintain a line or any semblance of firm tone. I prefer to pass over these and the other Strauss songs with orchestra, where there is little improvement, although both Morgen and Wiegenlied, where no pressure on tone is required, are ingratiatingly done and better tuned than Nilsson's accounts with piano.
Doubtful tuning here and there is also a reservation to be found in Nilsson's Four Last Songs, recorded in 1970 when the Swedish soprano was more or less in pristine form. It's perhaps no coincidence that this, like three other memorable performances, two of them listed above (Jurinac and Schwarzkopf—both EMI)—the third is Flagstad's with Furtwangler, occasionally available on 'unofficial' discs—are taken from live events, because an audience obviously helps the singers to communicate that much more intensely. Flagstad gave the songs their premiere, so it's intriguing to hear her successor bring the same kind of broad sweep, sincerity of purpose and rewarding breath-control to them. At the same time Nilsson is able to fine down her tone to the needs of the more intimate moments, although the detail isn't always easy to enjoy in a recording that has the singer—and orchestra, seemingly responding well to Segerstam's straightforward direction—much too backwardly placed. It's like listening to a performance from the furthermost point of the gallery. So this won't displace those accounts listed above, nor indeed one or two others made in the studio, among them the underrated Janowitz/DG version (I am pleased to see that is listed in the current Good CD Guide).
The rest of the well-filled Nilsson disc (the Jones, by comparison, offers short measure) is drawn from a recital with Geoffrey Parsons (in wonderful form) at Stockholm in 1974. By now Nilsson was 56, but the voice, once warmed up, is as keen and steady as ever. The four Strauss songs are unremarkable as I have already inferred, but the Sibelius, Rangstrom and Grieg, the texts fully comprehended, are all given considered readings. Those calling for quieter and lighter singing such as The girl under the new moon (''Flickan under nymanen'') are just as easily done as those calling for a grand gesture such as The Amazon (''Skoldmon''). Incidentally, those two pieces Rangstrom pieces were, for me, delightful discoveries. Most enjoyable of all is A swan (''En svane''), always a favourite with Flagstad, where the glorious voice peals out as if in its prime. Then come two much appreciated encores, of which the second, Wien, du Stadt meiner Traume, brings down the house—and quite right too.
The recording here is more than adequate. So this is a disc to be greeted eagerly by anyone who has ever heard Nilsson in person and to be investigated by those too young to have done so. Neither group ought to be disappointed by what they hear.'