Swedish Chamber Orchestra and Thomas Dausgaard are joined by one of today’s foremost Wagner singers. Named ‘Singer of the Year’ by Opernwelt magazine in 2012, Nina Stemme has been the Isolde of choice at Glyndebourne, Bayreuth and Covent Garden.

For this album Nina performs the five Wesendonck-Lieder, of which two in particular, Im Treibhaus and Träume, were referred to by Wagner as ‘studies’ for Tristan and Isolde. Wagner himself prepared a version for violin and orchestra of Träume, and the ensemble includes this setting featuring principal violinist, Katarina Andreasson, as soloist.

The Wesendonck-Lieder are framed by two versions of the overture to Der fliegende Holländer, the rarely heard 1841 original version and the composer’s final creation from 1860, with its new ending inspired by Tristan, composed three years earlier.