Plácido Domingo, Deborah Voigt - Wagner Love Duets

This stunning disc includes the two long love duets from Act III of Siegfried and Act II of Tristan und Isolde; in Domingo and Voigt, Wagner's characters find powerful, vulnerable, almost transcendental exponents. Domingo's voice, of course, is no longer in the freshest bloom of youth: but if he is not the impossibly ideal 25-year-old Heldentenor about whom one fantasizes singing Siegfried, he brings an authority and sensitivity to the role that sweeps one away.

Voigt too gets to the heart of the female characters, and sings Brünnhilde with such subtle vulnerability that her moments of powerful exclamation sound as if she is trying to convince herself of their truth. There is no bombast for bombast's sake, and the result is psychologically all the more true. Pappano, a conductor alive to every nuance of the singers' phrasing, brings a Mediterranean sensuousness to the score, and draws some remarkably luxurious sounds out of the Royal Opera House band. The acoustic also gives a wonderful depth to the texture, and the brass especially sounds gorgeous. The tingle factor of this recording is so high, it should carry a government health warning.

Tracklist

01. Siegfried - Duets Sehr langsam
02. Siegfried - Duets Heil dir, Sonne! Heil dir, Licht!
03. Siegfried - Duets O wüsstest du, Lust der Welt
04. Siegfried - Duets Dort seh' ich Grane, meine selig Ross
05. Siegfried - Duets Heilig schied sie aus Walhall
06. Siegfried - Duets Ewig war ich, ewig bin ich
07. Siegfried - Duets Dich lieb' ich o liebst mich Du!
08. Siegfried - Duets Siehst du mich nicht
09. Tristan und Isolde - Duets O sink hernieder, nacht der Liebe
10. Tristan und Isolde - Duets Nie wieder Erwachtens wahnlos…
11. Tristan und Isolde - Duets Lausch, Geliebter
12. Tristan und Isolde - Duets Doch uns're Liebe
13. Tristan und Isolde - Duets So starben wir, um ungetrennt…Habet Acht!
14. Tristan und Isolde - Duets Soll ich lauschen