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Reviewed by:
  • Aase Nordmo Løvberg
  • Robert Baxter (bio)
Aase Nordmo Løvberg

More than twenty-five years after she retired, Aase Nordmo Løvberg remains a vocal enigma. The Norwegian soprano enjoyed a long and successful career in Scandinavia but, despite her handsome voice and solid musicianship, never established a lasting presence on international stages. A single season at Bayreuth is commemorated in live recordings of Lohengrin and Die Walküre. A broadcast of Die Walküre also documents her brief career at the Metropolitan Opera: two seasons, four roles, and thirteen performances. From her debut in 1957 until her final performance in 1965, Løvberg also sang only thirteen times in four roles at the Vienna Staatsoper: a single Amelia along with Leonore, Sieglinde, and Elisabeth. She sang in Hamburg, Munich, and London without achieving enduring success in any of those cities.

Løvberg began her career in the shadow of Kirsten Flagstad. But so did Ingrid Bjoner. Unlike Løvberg, Bjoner made an international career on major European and American stages. Did Løvberg lack ambition? Or was she merely content to base her career in Stockholm and Oslo? Live recordings of Cavalleria rusticana (Bluebell ABCD 085) and Il trovatore (Caprice CAP 22051)—both with Jussi Björling—show the soprano could hold her own with a major artist. Two solo LPs issued by EMI—a collection of Verdi arias and Wagner scenes and songs by Strauss and Grieg—catch in her vocal prime and prove she was an estimable singer.

Several of those EMI recordings are featured in a wide-ranging collection of live and studio recordings issued on CD by Simax. The gatefold cover features a dozen photographs of the soprano onstage and off-, including a photo of Løvberg and Flagstad that commemorates the signing of a contract for Otello [End Page 750] with the Norwegian National Opera. The booklet features more photographs and provides documentation for the soprano's operatic career, which began as Imogene in the world premiere of Arne Eggen's Cymbeline in 1951 and ended twenty-seven years later with a performance of Un ballo in maschera. After her retirement, Løvberg became the director of the Norwegian National Opera, a post once held by Flagstad.

Løvberg was a jugendlich-dramatischer Sopran. Her repertory ranged from Verdi (Aida, Elisabetta, Leonora, and Lady Macbeth) to Strauss (Marschallin) and Wagner (Elisabeth, Elsa, Eva, Sieglinde, and Senta). She also sang Leonore, Santuzza, Tosca, Micaëla, and Donna Anna. Her voice rose from a rich, full middle to a vibrant, focused top (high B-natural is the highest note in the Simax collection). Like many sopranos of this type, Løvberg sounds less comfortable when the range descends below the treble staff. Here her luscious voice loses some of its firm focus and concentration. These excerpts also document Løvberg's seasoned artistry. She sings smoothly and fluently—and with technical aplomb—in Mozart, Strauss, Verdi, and Wagner. There are no florid arias in this compilation disc, although when rapid figurations and vocal embellishments are required, Løvberg executes them gracefully and accurately. But the singing, despite its beauty, lacks thrusting temperament.

The recital opens impressively with two of the five Wagner scenes Løvberg recorded for EMI. Her voice rings out brightly in Elisabeth's ecstatic greeting to the Hall of Song—she attacks the exultant opening boldly and executes a nicely judged tenuto on the high G. A shimmering vibrato adds some tension to her creamy tone. Løvberg conveys the shifting moods of the scene and propels the music along with rhythmic precision. And she takes the high B confidently, if without soaring freedom. Elsa's "Einsam in trüben Tagen" is even better. The soprano crafts a stream of limpid, pure tone that flows seamlessly through Wagner's vocal lines. She expands her voice for the climaxes and then refines the tone expressively. This is a polished account of a demanding scene.

By temperament Løvberg is better suited to Verdi's Desdemona than Giordano's Maddalena or Ponchielli's Gioconda. The Willow Song and Ave Maria—a live performance in Norwegian, unlike her EMI studio recording, sung in...

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