Is Lise Davidsen the new voice of a generation?

Once in a generation comes along a great voice — a Maria Callas, Jessye Norman, Luciano Pavarotti or Jonas Kaufmann — and we may have found a new one in Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen.

Norwegian dramatic soprano Lise Davidsen has recorded songs by Wagner and Richard Strauss for her 2019 debut album on Decca. Picture: Ray Burmiston/Decca

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Once in a generation comes along a great voice — a Maria Callas, Jessye Norman, Luciano Pavarotti or Jonas Kaufmann — and we may have found a new one in Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen.

The 32-year-old dramatic soprano has made her debut album on the Decca Classics label — the home of many greats, including Cecilia Bartoli who first stunned and amazed us, and she continues to do so, with her Rossini arias album in 1989.

Now Davidsen is already being compared to her compatriot, the great Wagnerian dramatic soprano Kirsten Flagstad.

Although it’s still early days, Davidsen announces her arrival on the scene with a collection which draws inevitable comparisons with both Flagstad and Norman, featuring works by Wagner and Richard Strauss.

Accompanied by the Philharmonia Orchestra under Esa-Pekka Salonen, the program opens in blazing style with the aria Dich, Teure Halle, Grüß Ich Wieder from Wagner’s Tannhauser, but it’s the next excerpt, Allmächt’ge Jungfrau, Hör Mein Flehen!, which shows off Davidsen’s glorious tone, making the prospect of her singing Isolde one day a mouth-watering prospect.

She is equally at home in the dramatic Strauss roles, as she demonstrates in an authoritative Es Gibt Ein Reich from Ariadne auf Naxos.

But the “swoon factor” comes with the collection of Strauss songs — the set of four from Op 27 and the wonderful Four Last Songs, the composer’s valedictory offering to his soprano wife Pauline de Ahna, written at the end of his life.

These gems have been on frequent rotation in my home since I was given Jessye Norman’s classic Philips recording as my first CD when I was transitioning from audiocassettes.

Davidsen’s performance may not quite match that pearl, but she comes pretty close.

You can buy the Lise Davidsen sings Wagner and Strauss CD from Fish Fine Music for $24.99.