Fans of Dame Gwyneth Jones will be grateful for the reissue of this recording, for she is surprisingly underrepresented on disc. One of the world’s greatest Wagnerian sopranos, she is renowned for combining vocal strength with dramatic conviction, and here she is in thrilling voice as she performs key scenes from Wagner’s operas, in roles for which she is most acclaimed. The CD is an essential sound document of a truly great prima donna.

The CD was praised for its natural sound quality, allowing the listener to hear all the thrilling detail of Dame Gwyneth’s art.

This recording is made up of key scenes from Richard Wagner’s music dramas, and covers an extremely broad spectrum, including such different passages as Brünnhilde’s final song from Twilight of the Gods and Elsa’s Dream from Lohengrin, thereby giving the listener an idea of this singer’s unequalled versatility.

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Born in 1937 in Pontnewynydd in Wales, Gwyneth Jones studied at London’s Royal College of Music, Sienna and Zurich. She was later was a student of Dame Eva Turner, learning from her the role of Turandot that was to become the greatest triumph of the latter part of her career.
Gwyneth Jones made her professional debut as a mezzo-soprano in 1962 in Zurich and her early career centered around the Italian repertory. In 1964 she replaced an ailing Leontyne Price as Leonara in Covent Garden’s production of Trovatore and became an overnight success. Later she sang Verdi’s Leonora, Elisabeth de Valois, Aida, and Desdemona; Mozart’s Donna Anna; Mascagni’s Santuzza; Puccini’s Tosca; Strauss’ Marschallin, Salome, and Chrysothemis, but it wsa her Wagnerian roles for which she was most celebrated, working her way up through Norns and Rhinemaidens through Gutrune and Sieglinde all the way to one of the greatest Brünnhildes of the postwar era.
She continued to add roles to her already vast repertory, which today also includes Wagner’s Isolde and Ortrud; Strauss’ Empress, Dyer’s Wife, Agyptische Helena, and Elektra; Puccini’s Turandot and Minnie; and Schoenberg’s Woman in Erwartung, so that now she has taken all the leading dramatic soprano roles.
Gwyneth Jones is a Kammersangerin of both the Vienna and Bavarian Operas. She was made a Dame of the British Empire in 1986. Other honours bestowed upon her include the German Cross of Merit, and the Presidency of the British Wagner Society.

Chandos proves it can record a voice as well as an orchestra alone – state of the art
Her famous Gotterdammerung finale… is thrilling.


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