Wagner: Wesendonck Lieder - EP

Joyce DiDonato revealed her Wagnerian credentials on EDEN, her 2022 eco-concept album, with “Schmerzen”, the fourth of the composer’s Wesendonck Lieder. On this EP, she offers the remaining songs in performances of warmth and expressiveness. Wagner was writing Tristan und Isolde at the same time as he set these five poems by Mathilde Wesendonck, and two of the songs are closely related to the opera, most powerfully “Im Treibhaus”, with its yearning and aching intensity. DiDonato sings with intimacy and tenderness (exquisite in “Träume”), her rich, supple voice enveloped in the orchestra. Il Pomo d’Oro play with light vibrato and great sensitivity.