Suzanne Danco
With a curious melding of a bright vocal timbre and a somewhat-reserved temperament, Suzanne Danco became a leading artist among the lyric sopranos of the 1940s and 1950s. She was a frequent visitor to the recording studio and left an appreciable legacy on disc, each one reflecting her high purpose and musical exactitude. Her choice of operatic roles was wide-ranging, extending from Mozart to Alban Berg with several French heroines occupying a central place among them. Danco received her musical training at the Brussels Conservatory, where her studiousness won her numerous awards. Her first experiences on-stage were as a chorus member. While her family was largely unsupportive regarding her desire to become an opera singer, Danco persisted. After winning a prize in Vienna, she followed the advice of conductor Erich Kleiber and traveled to Prague to study with lyric tenor Fernando Carpi. Following a series of recitals in Italy in 1940, Danco's 1941 debut as Fiordiligi attracted notice in Genoa and the role remained a central one in her subsequent career. She presented herself in the same part for a 1947 production at La Scala. An American operatic career failed to materialize: Rudolf Bing's promise of an invitation from the Metropolitan Opera he was about to join remained unfulfilled and Danco did not appear there. Instead, she visited the United States on a recital tour with accompanist Paul Ulanowsky. Danco's stage appearances in Europe compensated for any American disappointments. For La Scala in 1947, she sang Ellen Orford in Milan's first performance of Britten's Peter Grimes. In 1948, she presented her Jocasta in Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex to La Scala audiences and in 1949, she ventured Marie in Berg's Wozzeck for the Teatro San Carlo, afterward declaring it a part holding no difficulties for her. Despite her enthusiasm for Italian lyric roles, they seldom came her way. A 1951 production of La bohème at Covent Garden was presented in English and Danco felt her one opportunity to sing Mimi was compromised by an inept translation. Despite her discomfort, she was well-regarded by the critics who found her a fragile, slightly distant heroine whose English was excellent. That outing, however, was both the beginning and the end of her career at the Royal Opera House. Other houses were less indifferent. At Rome, her Mélisande was acclaimed and she became a valued artist at the Edinburgh, Aix-en-Provence, and Glyndebourne festivals. In orchestral concerts, she was regarded as exemplary in Berlioz's Les nuits d'été and Ravel's Shéhérazade, both of which she commercially recorded. In her recital repertory, works by Berlioz, Gounod, Fauré, Chausson, Debussy, Ravel, and Poulenc alternated with ones by Schubert, Schumann, Berg, Schoenberg, Falla, and Britten. Several Mozart roles were recorded either on commercial disc or through reasonably faithful radio transmissions. After retirement, Danco taught at Aldeburgh and at the Accademia Chigiana at Siena.
© TiVo
Discography
21 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Suzanne Danco: The Decca Recitals
Classical - Released by Universal Music Australia Pty. Ltd. on 3 Jul 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
LP Pure, Vol. 43: Ansermet Conducts Falla
Ernest Ansermet, Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Suzanne Danco
Classical - Released by Archiphon on 7 Jun 2019
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Berlioz: Les Nuits d'Été, Op. 7 by Suzanne Danco
Suzanne Danco, Thor Martin Johnson, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by Alexandre Bak - Classical Music Reference Recording on 15 Oct 2021
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Debussy, Ravel & Satie (Suzanne Danco, Vol. 2)
Secular Vocal Music - Released by INA Mémoire vive on 27 May 2005
The Qobuz Essential Discography16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Don Giovanni
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1955
The Qobuz Essential Discography16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Berlioz:Nuits d'été - Canteloube:Chants de France
Suzanne Danco, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Thor Martin Johnson, Lucie Daullene, Joseph Canteloube
Mélodies (French) - Released by Decca on 10 May 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Récital au Festival de Vichy 1955
Classical - Released by INA Mémoire vive on 1 Sep 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Singers of the Century: Suzanne Danco – Songs of Debussy (Remastered 2019)
Suzanne Danco, Michael Raucheisen, Jeanne Deroubaix, Hamburg Radio Chorus, Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, Marcel Couraud
Classical - Released by Jube Classic on 11 Jan 2019
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Honegger: Le Roi David
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1970
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
L'art français du chant, Vol. 3
Germaine Cernay, Camille Maurane, Suzanne Danco
Classical - Released by Forlane on 26 Nov 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Britten: Les Illuminations, Op. 18 - Falla: 7 Canciones Populares Españolas
Suzanne Danco, Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released by Cascavelle on 30 Jun 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Così Fan Tutte - Danco, Simionato, Stabile
Suzanne Danco, Giulietta Simionato, Mariano Stabile
Opera - Released by Urania on 1 Jan 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schubert: Partsongs - Lieder
Suzanne Danco, Robert Tear, Elizabethan Singers, Louis Halsey
Classical - Released by Universal Music Australia Pty. Ltd. on 1 Jan 1956
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Johannes Brahms, Hugo Wolf: Lieder Recital
Classical - Released by Supraphon a.s. on 17 Feb 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ansermet conducts Ravel (Ernest Ansermet Edition, Vol. 4 - Paris, 1947)
Suzanne Danco, Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire
Classical - Released by XXI Music on 20 Jul 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Robert Schumann: Dichterliebe, Op. 48 - Liederkreis, Op. 39
Classical - Released by ArnebAudio on 29 Sep 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gluck · orphée et eurydice
Léopold Simoneau, Suzanne Danco, Pierrette Alarie, Hans Rosbaud, Orchestre Lamoureux
Classical - Released by G.O.P. on 28 Feb 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Pierné & Debussy: Works for Voice & Piano
Suzanne Danco, Hermann Reutter
Classical - Released by SWR Mediaservices GmbH on 6 Mar 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Davidde penitente, K. 469 (Live)
Classical - Released by Archipel on 1 Jan 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gluck: Orphée et Eurydice
Léopold Simoneau, Suzanne Danco, Orchestre Lamoureux, Hans Rosbaud
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1956
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Very Best of Fauré
Jean-Michel Damase, Suzanne Danco, Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
Classical - Released by Discover Classical Music on 1 Aug 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo