Lise Davidsen and James Baillieu review – superstar soprano unleashes her inner Valkyrie | Classical music

WIgmore Hall 125 yearsits conductor John Gilhooley was being given honorary membership of the Royal Philharmonic Society, and everyone in the audience shouted for free beer, but there was another reason to celebrate on Sunday night. With Lise Davidsen, the world’s most sought-after opera singer, the performance of Schubert was a standing ovation.

The Norwegian soprano has a Rolls-Royce instrument, which can fill a house the size of the Metropolitan Opera, but next I brought other qualities to the table. His unarmed warmth in his seemingly nonsensical spoken word introduction put the audience completely at ease. His ability to be human, as he does on stage, proved that songs like Gretchen am Spinnrade and Die Junge Nonne were very impressive. The first one was opened with a loud bang and tied with volcanic eruptions. His newborn sister was enraged by the rapture of fear that lay next to the monstrous body.

The big monsters – Ganymed, for example, with a priapic crescendo, or the chaotic Erlkönig, taken on an RSI-inducing lick by pianist James Baillieu – hit their mark. His voice has an incredible range and a steely core, even when pressed hard into the booming upper register, the strange consonant wanted to stray. It was impossible to find fault, however, with Die Allmacht, Schubert’s most Wagnerian expression. By nailing her artificial colors to a tree, Davidsen threw caution to the wind, unleashing her inner Valkyrie.

It was the most intimate songs, however, several of them rarely received, which brought great joy. Du Bist die Ruh, with its impressive diminuendo, was a master of air conditioning; The singer’s unassuming sincerity touched the subtleties of Mich Scheinen’s Mignon’s So Last. Baillieu, all his rock, brought a twist to Goethe’s heartbreaking Nur Wer die Sehnsucht Kennt. Saving the best for last, the recital concluded with the famous religious record Am Tage Aller Seelen. Davidsen’s seamless soprano never rises above a whisper as the voice offers medicine to the brokenhearted, every word a clear thought.