Great opera singers talent : the great Anna Silja performs greatfully the Queen of the Night as well as Dame Joan Sutherland, I wish the sound of Julius Caesar were better but it’s a treasure to have this recording. I’m very happy with my purchase. Thanks !

Thanks to Andy for celebrating Anja Silja’s birthday. The catalog he offers is very interesting and is roughly representative of the artist's repertoire, at least between around 1960 and 1975. Anja Silja is a star in the opera world. She was said to be the German Callas. I do not believe so. Callas was a great tragedian who revived 19th century Italian romantic operas. But Anja Silja was above all the first modern singer and for a long time the only one. She is a great actress and has phenomenal vocal capacities, from the soprano colorature to the soprano dramatic. I think that since a decade, some singers who have some similar qualities: A Grigorian, C Schäfer, M Petersen and B Hannigan. But Anja Silja actually includes them all by her very wide repertoire. She has been accompanied my life when listening to the opera : Bayreuth’s broadcasts since 1961. Then Salomé, Walküre, Marie (Wozzeck), Emilia Marty (Aix and Lyon), Geschwitz, Kostelnika, die Ame (Die Frau), sister Marie, Erwartung, Schönberg’s lieder, Pierrot Lunaire (Aix and Lyon). I had the chance to have some exchanges with her. What a personality, a very clear understanding of her roles. One can add to Andy’s catalogue, the video of Wieland Wagner's Lulu, Fidelio and various sequences on YOUTUBE, recordings of Tristan in Naple and Salomé in Vienna and the remarkable recordings with Christoph von Dohnanyi of Wozzeck, Lulu and Erwartung. What an outstanding artist! Anja Silja… Salomé, Marie, Lulu forever. Ewig, ewig, ewig….

Silja was an amazing performer live but often recordings don't do her justice. Some of this is terrific, some hit or miss.

I loved Anja Silja and thought her to be very versatile; who else did a reasonable job singing Königin der Nacht, Olympia, Carmen, Isolde and the Siegfried Brunhilde?