The sensational new CD-edition “Jessye Norman – The Unreleased Masters” includes an extraordinary performance of Tristan und Isolde with Ms. Norman performing the multiple roles of Isolde and Brangäne, Wagner and Strauss song cycles, and a live recording of an eclectic programme of cantatas by Haydn, Berlioz and Britten. The immense emotional range of Jessye Norman’s voice is demonstrated by a remarkable recording of highlights from Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde in which Ms. Norman uses studio dubbing to perform both the roles of Isolde and Brangäne. The immense emotional range of Jessye Norman’s voice is demonstrated by a remarkable recording of highlights from Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde in which Ms. Norman uses performs the role of Isolde. Recorded with Kurt Masur and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra in 1998, the recording features Thomas Moser as Tristan, Hanna Schwarz as Brangäne and a young Ian Bostridge as the Seeman.

Jessye Norman’s 1982 recording of Strauss’s Four Last Songs is frequently regarded as one of classical music’s greatest all-time recordings. On this new release, listeners will hear a fascinating alternative 1989 recording of Norman performing the work, this time with James Levine and the Berliner Philharmoniker, paired with a 1992 recording of Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder. The final disc of the three-CD set contains a 1994 live recording of Ms. Norman with Seiji Ozawa and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Spanning repertoire from the Classical and Romantic eras and the twentieth century, the programme of cantatas is bound together by the theme of ancient queens, containing Haydn’s Scena di Berenice, Berlioz’s Cléopâtre ¬and Britten’s Phaedra.

Born in Georgia, USA, in 1945, Jessye Norman became one of the most celebrated opera singers and recitalists in the world, with her four-decade discography amassing five Grammys, including the Lifetime Achievement Award. Jessye Norman won the Munich International music competition in 1968 and made her operatic debut the following year at the Deutsche Oper, Berlin. She died in 2019.

Tracklist:

CD1 (Studio Recording)

Jessye Norman (Isolde, Brangäne)

Thomas Moser (Tristan)

Ian Bostridge (Seamann)

Kurt Masur / Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra

WAGNER: Tristan und Isolde WWV 90 (excerpts)

1. Prelude: Langsam und schmactend
2. Act I, Scene 1: “Westwärts schweift der Blick” (Seemann · Isolde · Brangäne)
3. Scene 2: “Frisch weht der Wind der Heimat zu” (Seemann · Isolde · Brangäne)
4. Scene 3: “Weh, ach wehe! Dies zu dulden” (Brangäne · Isolde)
5. Scene 3:“Wie lachend sie mir Lieder singen” (Isolde · Brangäne)
6. Act II, Scene 2: “Isolde! Geliebte! – Tristan! Geliebter!” (Tristan · Isolde)
7. Act II, Scene 2:“Doch es rächte sich der verscheuchte Tag” (Isolde · Tristan)
8. Act II, Scene 2:“O sink hernieder, Nacht der Liebe” (Tristan · Isolde)
9. Act II, Scene 2:“Einsam wachend in der Nacht” (Brangäne · Isolde · Tristan)
10. Act II, Scene 2:“Unsre Liebe? Tristans Liebe? Dein’ und mein’” (Tristan · Isolde)
11. Act II, Scene 2:“So starben wir, um ungetrennt” (Tristan · Isolde · Brangäne)
12. Act III, Scene 3H: “Mild und leise wie er lächelt” (Isoldes Liebestod) (Isolde)

CD2 (Live Recording)

Jessye Norman

Berliner Philharmoniker / James Levine

1. STRAUSS: Vier letzte Lieder TrV 296
2. I Frühling (Hesse)
3. II September (Hesse)
4. III Beim Schlafengehen (Hesse)
5. IV Im Abendrot (Eichendorff)

WAGNER: Wesendonck-Lieder (orch. Felix Mott)

1. No.1 Der Engel
2. No.2 Stehe still!
3. No.3 Im Treibhaus
4. No.4 Schmerzen
5. No.5 Träume

CD3 (Live Recording)

Jessye Norman

Boston Symphony Orchestra / Seiji Ozawa

HAYDN: Scena di Berenice Hob. XXIVa:10

1. Recitativo: “Berenice, che fai?”
2. Cavatina: “Non partir, bell’idol mio”
3. Recitativo: “Me infelice!”
4. Aria: “Perché, se tanti siete”

BERLIOZ: Cléopâtre H.36

1. Allegro vivace con impeto – Récitatif: “C’en est donc fait!”
2. Lento cantabile: “Ah! qu’ils sont loin ces jours, tourment de ma mémoire”
3. Méditation: Largo misterioso: “Grands Pharaons, nobles Lagides”
4. Allegro assai agitato: “Non! … non, de vos demeures funèbres”
5. Allegro non troppo – Recitativo misurato: “Dieux du Nil”

BRITTEN: Phaedra Op.93

1. Prologue: “In May, in brilliant Athens”
2. Recitative: “My lost and dazzled eyes saw only night”
3. Presto: “You monster! You understood me too well”
4. Recitative: “Oh Gods of wrath”
5. Adagio: “My time’s too short, your highness”