CD REVIEWS

GRIEG: Songs (1997) CD Naxos - Catalogue No: 8.553781 buy here

Reviewed by Gramophone - 1997:
Bodil Arnesen is a young lyric soprano with just the right freshness for these open-air songs (as so many of them are) of spring and hope. She is entirely firm, has a healthy glow on the upper notes, shows a nice feeling for nuance, and knows how to make the voice smile…
The choice of songs is fine, so too the programming, in which the sequence (not chronological) is sensible and satisfying. For a proper conspectus of Grieg’s songs it is necessary to have the Haugtussa cycle… It is compensation, however, in the charming Bjornson settings (Op. 21), the two songs of Solveig, and others such as The Princess and “With a primrose” which are among the best of all. Erling R. Eriksen accompanies sympathetically, the balance of voice and piano is well judged and the booklet provides useful and attractive companionship.

Reviewed by Recordings Direct - 1997:
The creamy and exquisite voice of Bodil Arnesen...being absolutely ideal for these works. And even Grieg himself may have modified his statement that "the only genuine interpreter of my songs is my wife”, if he had the opportunity of hearing Arnesen...

Reviewed by Amazon.com Contributors:
A Dream (Top Rated - 5 of 5 Stars), November 2006
To me, Grieg's music is very special. He uses so much color in his music like a great painter. Listening to his music makes me see the beautiful fjords and the mysterious mid-summer night of Norway. It also gives me a taste of the lives and emotions of the people lived there. His songs are treasures of art song literature. He is definitely the greatest composer Norway has ever offered.
This is my first CD of Bodil Arnesen (Soprano) and I just love her voice! It is clear, soft, colorful, warm and with a bit of melancholy. She sang with deep emotion and very good technique. I think her voice and the way she sings suit very well to Grieg's songs. On the piano is Erling R. Eriksen, who beautifully created the atmosphere of each song. I liked the interpretation very much and also the collection of songs. The CD has been very useful for me to understand… Grieg's songs. I really recommend Grieg music lovers to get this CD. - Nachtigall, Germany

Beautiful voice, Delightful music (Top Rated - 5 of 5 stars) July 2000
I bought this CD based on good reviews I'd seen elsewhere on the Internet. These little songs are delightful, and the piano accompaniment is clean and lively. The real treat here, of course, is Bodil Arnesen's voice - strong and gutsy on track No.7 (Tak for ditt Rad), soaring on track No.10 (Solveigs Sang), and joyous on No.22 (I liden hojt deroppe). Naxos has included a huge set of liner notes with all the texts in Norwegian and English. That's a nice touch. 70 minutes of beautiful singing, and at a bargain price. Another winner for Naxos, and I hope to hear more from Bodil Arnesen in the future. - Vic Spicer, Canada

SINDING: Songs (1998) CD Naxos - Catalogue No: 8.553905 buy here

Reviewed by BBC Music Magazine - 1998:
Twenty-eight of Christian Sinding’s fine songs - late-Romantic with an occasional folksong flavour- are offered here… including settings in German as well as his native Norwegian. The pure-toned soprano Bodil Arnesen is affecting and sometimes radiant… - Keith Potter

Reviewed by Amazon.com Contributors:
Danish, Norwegian and German songs (4 of 5 Stars), October 2000
This is a fine recital and anything less than three stars would be churlish. The fact that Naxos, as earlier in Arnesen's Grieg recital, have provided original texts in Danish, Norwegian, New-Norwegian or German (as well as translations in English), at a super-budget price, earns the fourth star... The only reason it doesn't get five stars is the presence of the Deutsche Grammophon (DG) Grieg recital by Otter in the catalogues. However price is a factor, and given the choice between 1 CD of Grieg from DG, and 2 CD’s of Grieg and Sinding from Naxos, a lot of people will have no hesitation in going for the two Naxos discs. - "A Customer"

Beethoven: Works for Chorus & Orchestra (1995) CD Koch Schwann - Catalouge No: 314852 buy here

Reviewed by Gramophone - 1996:
This is a collection of chips from the great man’s workbench, some of them thin shavings but none of them without some interest. Perhaps the weirdest assemblage is the incidental music for a drama called Leonore Prohaska, a play about a girl who dresses up as a man and sets off heroically - but do not be misled by comparisons with any other Beethoven Leonores: this one appears to have been a Sweet Polly Oliver who fought and died as a soldier in the Wars of Liberation. Censorship silenced the play, but not before Beethoven had composed four numbers for it. There is a vigorous “Warriors’ Chorus”, quite a pretty “Romance” for soprano and harp (nicely sung here), and a melodrama for the maddening combination of reciter and glass harmonica (an instrument once believed to be literally maddening).

Beethoven - Emperor Cantatas (1995) CD Koch Schwann - Catalouge No: 3-1435-2 h1 buy here

Reviewed by Classical.Net - 1995:
These "two" (more truly describable as one, since the second follows the first in meaning and style) cantatas have always been something of a Beethoven by-way. They are very early works (Beethoven was only 20 when he wrote them) and not particularly well conceived as a whole, being too slow for too long at the beginning.
However, both cantatas are full of interesting anticipations of later developments. Beethoven was accused at the time of having used every weapon in his instrumental armoury; it's true that it was not until over ten years later that he was to use such sounds in his music again. It is also interesting to note that though these cantatas are capable of a "death and resurrection" gloss, they are essentially almost pagan paeans to an anti-Catholic god of the Enlightenment, and as such another anticipation of Beethoven's later thoughts.
These rarities need persuasive performing, and they certainly get it here. Karl Rickenbacher creates a suitably solemn tone (until the expected brighter days of Leopold II), but with ample care for telling orchestral details, and the soloists and choir do the music proud.

R. Strauss - The Donkey's Shadow (1997) CD Koch Schwann - Catalouge No: 365482 buy here

Reviewed by BBC Music Magazine - 1998:
This curious little hybrid fleshes out the bones of a Singspiel left unfinished by Strauss at his death in 1949. It was commissioned in 1947 from the 82-year-old composer by the headmaster of his grandson’s Benedictine school as ‘an outline of your musical world... an initiation to your greater works’. Strauss’s sketches were duly completed by the school’s music director, Karl Haussner, and first performed there in 1964. For this premiere recording, Peter Ustinov links the musical numbers with his own droll account of Wieland’s satirical tale of a legal squabble about whether anyone paying for a donkey ride is also entitled to its shadow without further payment.
There are intimations of Straussian joie de vivre in the overture and 14 little numbers, especially in the judge’s waltz-time oration, but Rickenbacher’s orchestra sounds uncomfortably larger than the chamber ensemble envisaged by Haussner. Delightfully sung by an excellent adult cast, you’re left wondering how the work could ever be performed by children. Full marks for notes reproducing Strauss’s correspondence with the school and his two librettists.

ALNÆS: Songs (1994) CD - Catalogue No: PSC1110

Reviewed by Aftenposten (Norwegian newspaper) - 1994
Bodil Arnesen does not only open a treasury-chest, but the way she does it is so convincing that one could offer her a respectful bow. She combines words and music with a rare naturalness. Her voice is smooth and without any
pressure. Her pronunciation too is first class... - June 4, 199

LIVE REVIEWS

"Bodil Arnesen, a Norwegian soprano with a velvety tone and a graceful interpretive manner... "
From the article "Music Review; Composers of Norway, On Down Through Many Eras", published in The New York Times. (The New York Times' Arts Section - February 24, 1998)
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"Musicians with exciting Chinese instruments, created a magic and enjoyable atmosphere..."
"The Norwegian soprano Bodil Arnesen was one of the "true Norwegian" elements during the show. Her singing was so ingenuous and pure - as she played along the caracter of Solveig from Peer Gynt. Her lyrical soprano really suited the music of Grieg, and was performed in a graceful manner. The interaction between the Chinese musicians and Arnesen also worked out well..."(Translated to English, from the Norwegian Newspaper "Sunnhordland" - September 5, 2007)
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"She has a most genuine voice... likely to become a superstar..."
Bodil Arnesen on tour with Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Mariss Janson.
Live Performance at Hong Kong Arts Festival: February 26th - March 04th 1993.
"She caught everybody’s attention the minute she stepped onto the stage... Her music had the texture of silk and willow, loose and unstrained, and her emotions appeared most genuine. Bodil Arnesen is likely to become a superstar in the world of lyrical sopranos…" 
(Reviewed by Crossover Magazine, March 1993)

"Charming Bodil Arnesen... drew a witty portrait of Bertha..."
Bodil Arnesen performing as Bertha, in the play “The Barber of Seville”, by G. Rossini.
International Festival in Bergen (Norway), 1994. Conductor: Alberto Zedda.
"One would not associate charming Bodil Arnesen with a peevish housekeeper, but she drew a witty portrait of old Bertha…” (Reviewed by the Norwegian newspaper VG - May 25, 1994)

"Arnesen gave a brilliant and nuanced account of Norina’s aria…”
Bodil Arnesen performing as Norina, in the play “Don Pasquale”, by G. Donizetti.
Opera Gala - with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, conducted by John Nelson.
(Reviewed by the Norwegian newspaper VG - February 27, 1994)

"Her fresh voice, spontaneous joy …beautifully nuanced expressions..."
Bodil Arnesen performing at the Oslo Olympic Culture Festival (1994) - with pianist Roger Vignoles (Lieder repertoire).
"A most exceptional lieder-experience... Arnesen is one of our very finest artists. Her fresh and silvery voice combines a rare musical accuracy with spontaneous joy of singing, beautifully nuanced expressions and a distinguished text pronounciation..."
(Reviewed by the Norwegian newspaper Arbeiderbladet - February 11, 1994)