Lone Koppel

LONE KOPPEL
Live and studio recordings 1963-1986

CD Danacord 623-624
www.danacord.dk

I had heard of the name before from reading the usual magazines way back then and a dear friend from Australia told me she was a sublime singing actress; still was I in for a big surprise when I purchased this two (mid-priced) CD set a week ago: a great revelation of an exciting artist with an exciting voice and a rock sure technique. Lone Koppel –daughter of the composer Herman Koppel- started her career in her homecountry Denmark but spent most of her career and her greatest successes in Australia. My all-time favourite source for things operatic in Australia is the doyen John Cargher who calls her ‘outstanding’ as Jenufa and has the highest praise for her as Salomé. It’s a creamy, luscious sonorous voice with lots of stamina perfectly at ease in both the Italian as the German repertoire. Give the ‘Mamma morta’ a listen and you’ll be immediately convinced. The first CD contains arias and scenes from Tosca, Don Carlos, Fidelio, Puritani (!), Chenier, Tosca and Elektra. In the Tosca excerpts she’s joined by tenor Willy Hartmann. The second CD contains recordings from Bohème, Ariadne, Salome, Manon Lescaut, Trovatore and Katerina Izmailova. Excellent enunciation abounds witness especially in her Lieder recital on CD two (Schubert-Brahms-Wolf-Strauss) where she is partnered by her late father. And what a joy to hear a bigger voice doing fully justice to this repertoire; her father proves to be an excellent accompanist as well.

Rudi van den Bulck, Opera Nostalgia