Anja Harteros :mesmerising and dazzling singer in the Wesendonck Lieder at La Philharmonie 22/I/18

She was in harmonious shades of green, a set of  a  short  sleeved top and a long skirt

 with shining dots, twinkling like small stars from the second balcony where I was, matched with an elegant and silky emerald stole contrasting with the dark bluish green of the set; her long dark hair

combed at the back which enhanced her regular, almost sculptural Greek profile. She was very elegant and looking younger, probably in communion with the romantic poems she was ready to share with us. I was tensed as always, knowing how high and sustained her top notes float, thinking there were treacherous parts in Träume, the last part in the set of five poems and also the longest one  and that 'the Greenhouse' is also a demanding part.
To begin with : the scores to be followed to appreciate the singing and the music, which help to remember the intense moments of that concert of the too short Wesendonck lieder, I would have liked them to last longer, it was so intense with a wonderful artist who gave her best in her interpretation  
of the five love poems Mathilde wrote while deeply in love with Richard for a brief encounter really that got the eternity  in front of them, through  the osmosis of their art,  poetry on her side, music on his.
Then came the fabulous Anja Harteros with her rather juvenile soprano voice, her natural intense phrasing and shaping of the lines and her tremendous sense of expressing feelings.  The audience got completely under her spell and it could be felt growing, to a complete silence only her voice utters the lines in The greenhouse, then also when she is backed by the  violin . Of course the floating  notes , her special way of making them so pure and magic, were there several times. The mesmerising effect of her art of singing these poems could be felt in the intense contemplation of the very silent and meditative audience!When Valery Gergiev shaped the latest music chords, the last two, seperated by two quater rest, I had the apprehension of early clapping but the audience kept dead silent even after the last chord,   so soft ... that ending was magic. Gergiev made his typical' fluttering butterfly' hand gesture and kept motionless, staring at his musicians, Anja was lost in her dream for some time and we all came back to the ground and clapped with wonder at such beauty from the Munchner Philharmoniker, their conductor, Valery Gergiev and Anja Harteros so much in harmony with all of them that night!
I hope they will record the entire concert because the orchestral parts were also so good. (But for me it was a discovery with top musicians, the lead  violin was outstanding, and got tremendous applause too, so was the first clarinetist and all the horns, all of them really!)

• Piotr Ilitch Tchaïkovski
  Francesca da Rimini
• Richard Wagner
  Wesendonck Lieder
• Entracte
• Richard Strauss
  Ein Heldenleben, Une vie de héros, poème symphonique Op.40

• Münchner Philharmoniker
• Valery Gergiev, direction
• Anja Harteros, soprano 
• A very interesting account of the concert here

(the great profile photo is borrowed from my friend Maria Stuarda's facebook page, many thanks for letting me share this admirative shot, Maria Stuarda also loves Anja and her profile that night when Anja Harteros was so much involved in the songs!)