Part II - Your Favorites: GUNDULA JANOWITZ

Описание: THIS PART IS FOR YOUR FAVORITES!
Gundula Janowitz? Do you agree with her placement in a favorite-list? Please comment!

Gundula Janowitz, Soprano (born 1937)

Johann Strauss II - Die Fledermaus
Klänge der Heimat (Czardas)
Conductor: Karl Böhm
(Recorded 1972 )

My personal opinion: Herbert von Karajan became her mentor in the late 1950s. This is of course a remarkable point in her biography, but Gundula Janowitz didn´t need it at all. With or without the maestro, she advanced to one of the finest sopranos the post-war decades saw. Born in Berlin, she grew up in Austria, studied in Graz (Hubert Thöny) and was heard at the end of the 1950s in "Schöpfung" with Karajan. We know almost all kind of sopranos, the big, loud, spectacular and ravishing - Janowitz´ voice was a noble instrument with bright pure, almost intramundane sound, only little vibrato and excellent breath-control. She was one of those intimate singers in the line of Elisabeth Grümmer, the timbre was similar. The voice of Miss Janowitz was exceptional lyrical, despite this she sang some dramatic parts. I remember her Leonore ("Fidelio"). My personal favorite is her intelligent funny Rosalinde which she sang with the "grandezza" of a Mozart-Singer (In my own opinion far better than the high-praised portrayal of Hilde Güden, who really in fact was a soubrette). Unforgetable Miss Janowitz´ Countess in "Nozze di Figaro" or Pamina. Her repertoire ranked from Baroque to Richard Strauss, she sang with almost every great conductor. Praise is one side in the biography of a great singer. In "Opera on Record", Charles Osborne mentioned another side. He praised her "heavently, fine and pure" singing, but stated: "She wasn´t involved in what she sang!"
John Steane recognized, that some of her singing seemed to be in Trance - a metaphoric transcription for the oratoric sound-quality of her voice. No wonder, that Janowitz became a preferred interpret in the works of Bach, Händel or Haydn. It was a little step to song-recitals (Brahms, Schubert with Irwin Gage). "From her singing, angels could learn, but Brahms wrote his songs for human-voices!" judged critic Ivan Nagel after a Munich-Recital in 1971. "Her singing lacks eloquence, dramatic energy and pressure!", you can read in Kesting´s "Die grossen Sänger". But the author completes: "The highlight of her Mozart-Repertoire is the recording of "Magic Flute" under Klemperer. With Janowitz´singing, the great G-minor-Aria becomes Weltschmerz!"
Please let me return to her Rosalinde. I would like to present you the famous czardas from "Fledermaus". This is operetta on a high level.
With 32 votings you gave Miss Janowitz place 25.

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