Behrens generates an intensity and conviction all too rare among singers today, as I discovered when I heard her making her Wagner recital in Munich last April and singing Brünnhilde at Bayreuth in August. She has the kind of presence and individuality of voice that immediately commands attention, and then a total dedication to the task in hand... Hildegard Behrens hasn't the sheer volume of a Flagstad or the gleaming tone of a Nilsson, but she makes up for any deficiencies in that respect by the concentrated passion of her singing, its deep sincerity, intelligence and imagination often calling Callas to mind.
-- Alan Blyth, Gramophone [on Hildegard Behrens, 10/1986]
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Truly greatRead more dramatic sopranos – especially exponents of the heaviest Wagnerian roles Isolde and Brünnhilde – tend to emerge only one or two per generation. Frida Leider, who dominated the roles during the 1920s and 1930s, was succeeded by Kirsten Flagstad from the mid-30s, who in her turn abdicated in the mid-50s, when Astrid Varnay and Birgit Nilsson were ready to step into her shoes. Nilsson at least reigned well into the 1970s and by then Hildegard Behrens was fully fledged and remained at the top of the trade for another two decades... Her Leonora in Fidelio was one of her great impersonations and she was an Electra to reckon with. She may not have had the steely power of Birgit Nilsson but she is certainly one of the few truly great dramatic sopranos, enthralling audiences also through her acting ability.
-- Göran Forsling, MusicWeb International [on Hildegard Behrens, 2009] Read less
Lohengrin: Euch Lüften, die mein Klagenby Richard Wagner Performer:
Hildegard Behrens ()
Conductor:
Peter Schneider
Period: Romantic Written: 1847; Germany Length: 3 Minutes 24 Secs.
5.
Tristan und Isolde: Mild und leise "Liebestod"by Richard Wagner Performer:
Hildegard Behrens ()
Conductor:
Peter Schneider
Period: Romantic Written: 1859; Germany Length: 6 Minutes 17 Secs.
6.
Die Walküre: Der Männer Sippe sass hier im Saalby Richard Wagner Performer:
Hildegard Behrens ()
Conductor:
Peter Schneider
Period: Romantic Written: 1856; Germany Length: 4 Minutes 43 Secs.
7.
Die Walküre: Ho-jo-to-ho!by Richard Wagner Performer:
Hildegard Behrens ()
Conductor:
Wolfgang Sawallisch
Period: Romantic Written: 1856; Germany Date of Recording: 11/1989 Venue: Bayerische Staatsoper Length: 2 Minutes 24 Secs.
8.
Die Walküre: Siegmund, sieh' auf mich "Todesverkündigung"by Richard Wagner Performer:
Hildegard Behrens (),
Robert Schunk ()
Conductor:
Wolfgang Sawallisch
Period: Romantic Written: 1856; Germany Date of Recording: 11/1989 Venue: Bayerische Staatsoper Length: 18 Minutes 55 Secs.
Salome, Op. 54: Jochanaan, ich bin verliebt in deinen Leibby Richard Strauss Performer:
Wieslaw Ochman (),
Hildegard Behrens (),
José van Dam ()
Conductor:
Herbert von Karajan
Period: Post-Romantic Written: 1903-1905; Germany Length: 8 Minutes 55 Secs.
Early Songs (7): no 3, Die Nachtigallby Alban Berg Performer:
David Syrus (Piano),
Hildegard Behrens ()
Period: 20th Century Written: 1905-1908; Austria Length: 2 Minutes 23 Secs.
Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review: ( 1 Customer Review )
FINALLY A RECORDING FROM HILDEGARDE BEHRENS!April 3, 2012By P. Hill (Rockford, IL)See All My Reviews"A fine recording. A great drama soprano after Nilsson. She doesn't have Nilsson's powerful voice but her voice is more feminine and youthful.It's unfortunate she wasn't recorded more."Report Abuse
