CD Review - Transcendent Love. The Passions of Wagner and Strauss

Lisa Gasteen, soprano. West Australian Symphony Orchestra Orchestra. Simone Young, conductor.
ABC Classics 476 6811

That the classical music recording industry has come to a “stehe still” – excuse the pun derived from one of the songs on this album – could explain why an international label has not snapped up Lisa Gasteen, one of the best dramatic sopranos to emerge from Australia since Marjorie Lawrence. The big labels appear to require one 'house soprano' only these days. Gasteen appears in several recordings derived from live performances and, as her reputation continues to grow, a studio-recorded recital would be just what the fans are clamouring for. The selections chosen however will probably disappoint anyone expecting the “transcendent love” to include her immolating Brunhilde, alein Elektra or abanoned Ariadne. Instead there is Wagner’s Wesendonk Lieder, including a second version with violin solo, the ‘Tristan’ prelude (but no “Liebestod”), a selection of Richard Strauss lieder and his Metamorphosen.

Gasteen can focus her instrument into a very fine ‘slivery’ tone as well as the expected broader and “wall-shaking” ones. Here the microphone emphasises a natural but constant tremor that is more pronounced in the Strauss items and which detracts from their enjoyment. There is also a tendency to blandness in all the vocal items. Marilyn Richardson’s 1989 account of the Wesendonk Lieder with the Queensland Symphony [ABC Classics 426 999-2 no longer available] reveals more urgency in the opening of “stehe still” and, when that stillness arrives, a sense of ecstatic anticipation. Richardson finds too the Isolde-like ecstasy in “Träume” (which uses material common to the opera), which is placed, as usual, in her account as the final song. Gasteen’s account opens her re-ordering of the songs and is more languid, taking a minute longer than Richardson while the slower tempo shows up Gatseen’s vocal tremor. “Im Treibhaus” is the more successful; taking the usually ominous theme from the introduction to act three of “Tristan” the conductor, Simone Young, induces a chamber-like sound and coils the near-transparent ascending theme around Gasteen’s voice.

Perhaps a few more recordings will give Gasteen more ease in the presence of a microphone. In the Strauss items Gasteen blasts the high notes and in “Heimliche Aufforderung” her voice spreads sustaining them. Perhaps these are effects that do not transfer from the stage or concert platform.

Despite her overseas success Young has also been neglected by the big record labels there. Strauss’s Metamorphosen is the longest offering allowing her to display her talent with orchestra alone. It is a very thoughtful account with some subtle phrasing. The division of the strings about 15 minutes in, along with the quicksilver tempi leading up to the introduction (at 18’30”) of the more serious theme that forms the closing part of the work is a beautiful example of the way Young navigates this score.