Elisabeth Schwarzkopf - The Unpublished EMI Recordings(1946-52)
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Richard Strauss, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Hugo (Filipp Jakob) Wolf, Franz Schubert, Thomas (Augustine) Arne, Giuseppe Verdi, Johann Sebastian Bach, Giacomo Puccini, Thomas Morley, Charles-François Gounod
Label: Testament
Magazine Review Date: 6/1999
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 134
Mastering:
Mono
ADD
Catalogue Number: SBT2172
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Cantata No. 51, 'Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen!' |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Soprano Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer Philharmonia Orchestra Walter Susskind, Conductor |
| Exsultate, jubilate |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Soprano Josef Krips, Conductor Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer |
| (Die) Zauberflöte, '(The) Magic Flute' |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Soprano Norman Feasey, Piano Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer |
| (La) traviata, Movement: ~ |
Giuseppe Verdi, Composer
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Soprano Giuseppe Verdi, Composer Philharmonia Orchestra Warwick Braithwaite, Conductor |
| (La) Bohème, 'Bohemian Life', Movement: Donde lieta uscì (Mimì's farewell) |
Giacomo Puccini, Composer
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Soprano Giacomo Puccini, Composer Issay Dobroven, Conductor Philharmonia Orchestra |
| Ave Maria |
Charles-François Gounod, Composer
Charles-François Gounod, Composer Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Soprano Gerald Moore, Piano Jean Pougnet, Violin |
| Love's Labours Lost, Movement: When daisies pied |
Thomas (Augustine) Arne, Composer
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Soprano Karl Hudez, Piano Thomas (Augustine) Arne, Composer |
| It was a lover and his lass |
Thomas Morley, Composer
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Soprano Karl Hudez, Piano Thomas Morley, Composer |
| (Das) Veilchen |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Soprano Gerald Moore, Piano Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer |
| Gretchen am Spinnrade |
Franz Schubert, Composer
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Soprano Franz Schubert, Composer Gerald Moore, Piano |
| (Der) Musensohn |
Franz Schubert, Composer
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Soprano Franz Schubert, Composer Gerald Moore, Piano |
| Wiegenlied |
Franz Schubert, Composer
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Soprano Franz Schubert, Composer Gerald Moore, Piano |
| (4) Lieder, Movement: No. 3, Hat gesagt - bleibt's nicht dabei (Des Knaben Wunderhorn: 1898) |
Richard Strauss, Composer
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Soprano Gerald Moore, Piano Richard Strauss, Composer |
| (5) Kleine Lieder, Movement: No. 5, Schlechtes Wetter (wds. Heine) |
Richard Strauss, Composer
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Soprano Gerald Moore, Piano Richard Strauss, Composer |
| Mörike Lieder, Movement: Storchenbotschaft |
Hugo (Filipp Jakob) Wolf, Composer
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Soprano Gerald Moore, Piano Hugo (Filipp Jakob) Wolf, Composer |
| Goethe Lieder, Movement: Epiphanias |
Hugo (Filipp Jakob) Wolf, Composer
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Soprano Gerald Moore, Piano Hugo (Filipp Jakob) Wolf, Composer |
| Italienisches Liederbuch, 'Italian Songbook', Movement: Du denkst mit einem Fädchen |
Hugo (Filipp Jakob) Wolf, Composer
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Soprano Gerald Moore, Piano Hugo (Filipp Jakob) Wolf, Composer |
| Italienisches Liederbuch, 'Italian Songbook', Movement: Mein Liebster ist so klein |
Hugo (Filipp Jakob) Wolf, Composer
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Soprano Gerald Moore, Piano Hugo (Filipp Jakob) Wolf, Composer |
| Italienisches Liederbuch, 'Italian Songbook', Movement: Schweig einmal still |
Hugo (Filipp Jakob) Wolf, Composer
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Soprano Gerald Moore, Piano Hugo (Filipp Jakob) Wolf, Composer |
| Spanisches Liederbuch, 'Spanish Songbook', Movement: Mögen alle bösen Zungen (trans Geibel) |
Hugo (Filipp Jakob) Wolf, Composer
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Soprano Gerald Moore, Piano Hugo (Filipp Jakob) Wolf, Composer |
| Spanisches Liederbuch, 'Spanish Songbook', Movement: Bedeckt mich mit Blumen (trans Geibel) |
Hugo (Filipp Jakob) Wolf, Composer
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Soprano Gerald Moore, Piano Hugo (Filipp Jakob) Wolf, Composer |
| Spanisches Liederbuch, 'Spanish Songbook', Movement: Wer tat deinem Füsslein weh (trans Geibel) |
Hugo (Filipp Jakob) Wolf, Composer
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Soprano Gerald Moore, Piano Hugo (Filipp Jakob) Wolf, Composer |
| Mörike Lieder, Movement: Im Frühling |
Hugo (Filipp Jakob) Wolf, Composer
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Soprano Gerald Moore, Piano Hugo (Filipp Jakob) Wolf, Composer |
| Mörike Lieder, Movement: Elfenlied |
Hugo (Filipp Jakob) Wolf, Composer
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Soprano Gerald Moore, Piano Hugo (Filipp Jakob) Wolf, Composer |
| Mörike Lieder, Movement: Nixe Binsefuss |
Hugo (Filipp Jakob) Wolf, Composer
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Soprano Gerald Moore, Piano Hugo (Filipp Jakob) Wolf, Composer |
| Goethe Lieder, Movement: Die Spröde |
Hugo (Filipp Jakob) Wolf, Composer
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Soprano Gerald Moore, Piano Hugo (Filipp Jakob) Wolf, Composer |
| Goethe Lieder, Movement: Die Bekehrte |
Hugo (Filipp Jakob) Wolf, Composer
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Soprano Gerald Moore, Piano Hugo (Filipp Jakob) Wolf, Composer |
| (6) Lieder für eine Frauenstimme, Movement: Wiegenlied im Sommer (wds. Reinick) |
Hugo (Filipp Jakob) Wolf, Composer
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Soprano Gerald Moore, Piano Hugo (Filipp Jakob) Wolf, Composer |
| (6) Lieder für eine Frauenstimme, Movement: Mausfallen-Sprüchlein (wds. Mörike) |
Hugo (Filipp Jakob) Wolf, Composer
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Soprano Gerald Moore, Piano Hugo (Filipp Jakob) Wolf, Composer |
Author: Alan Blyth
Good heavens!, I hear you cry, what need for more Schwarzkopf when there’s already a heap of her recordings available, including performances of much of the same repertory. Well, there’s a very good reason why Testament – and Schwarzkopf herself, after some persuasion – thought this unissued material worth unearthing from the copious EMI archive where Testament continues to find new treasure. It may be heretical in the record world to say so, but Walter Legge had an Achilles’ heel: he demanded perfection and it was just occasionally bought at the expense of spontaneity. In the case of the commercial recordings included here, he thought his wife could perform the pieces better on a later occasion, but now we may judge that these earlier interpretations have that much more eager freshness than the previously published versions. That’s particularly so in the case of Bach’s Jauchzet Gott and Mozart’s Exsultate, jubilate. With Schwarzkopf in pristine, youthful voice, her production at its easiest, her breath long, both works shine forth as joyful things to hear – tone, line, runs all in perfect accord.
The remainder of the first CD, bar the final track, is a conspectus of the work the soprano was doing at the time, in the late 1940s, at Covent Garden where she was for a while a member of the resident company. Her Violetta, in English, and her Mimi, in Italian, both bespeak her care over the words, which are inflected with heartfelt meaning in both cases. But the gem here is Schwarzkopf’s own private recording of all Pamina’s role sung at home in English to piano accompaniment in order that she might learn the role properly in the vernacular. So here we have an invaluable souvenir of a quite beautifully sung performance of 51 years ago. Schwarzkopf introduces this delightful oddity herself, a further bonus for posterity. The very last item on this CD brings a discovery of a very difficult kind. Legge apparently thought the Bach-Gounod Ave Maria wasn’t musically worthy of the partnership, so the performance was never issued. How wrong he was: it turns out to be one of those occasions when a great artist can convert dross into gold.
On the second disc we have another addition to the singer’s recorded legacy in a charming account of Morley’s It was a lover and his lass. For the rest, it’s all discarded takes of Lieder issued in later performances. None is as compelling as the 1948 Gretchen am Spinnrade, a performance of concentrated feeling urgently executed, and an irresistible account of Der Musensohn is preferable to issued versions because of its uninhibited verve. Two versions of Wolf’s Storchenbotschaft are included; the first from 1948 the simpler, more natural, the second from 1951 a shade over-elaborated, not quite avoiding the song’s insufferable coyness.
The remaining Wolf songs, all recorded in 1951, disclose Dame Elisabeth, this early in her career, as complete mistress of this Fach. Three songs demand mention: Bedeckt mich mit Blumen, always a favourite with the singer, for its dreamy eroticism ideally adumbrated and sung with just the vibrancy called for, a reading of Im Fruhling, filled with spring’s yearning, and Wiegenlied im Sommer, in which Schwarzkopf’s soothing, tender tones would persuade any child to untroubled sleep (as would Schubert’s lullaby earlier on the disc). Throughout, Gerald Moore is the soprano’s ever-faithful and supportive partner, and EMI’s clear, clean recording adds to profound pleasure in an issue lovingly performed and lovingly prepared, with evocative photos and full texts and translations.'
The remainder of the first CD, bar the final track, is a conspectus of the work the soprano was doing at the time, in the late 1940s, at Covent Garden where she was for a while a member of the resident company. Her Violetta, in English, and her Mimi, in Italian, both bespeak her care over the words, which are inflected with heartfelt meaning in both cases. But the gem here is Schwarzkopf’s own private recording of all Pamina’s role sung at home in English to piano accompaniment in order that she might learn the role properly in the vernacular. So here we have an invaluable souvenir of a quite beautifully sung performance of 51 years ago. Schwarzkopf introduces this delightful oddity herself, a further bonus for posterity. The very last item on this CD brings a discovery of a very difficult kind. Legge apparently thought the Bach-Gounod Ave Maria wasn’t musically worthy of the partnership, so the performance was never issued. How wrong he was: it turns out to be one of those occasions when a great artist can convert dross into gold.
On the second disc we have another addition to the singer’s recorded legacy in a charming account of Morley’s It was a lover and his lass. For the rest, it’s all discarded takes of Lieder issued in later performances. None is as compelling as the 1948 Gretchen am Spinnrade, a performance of concentrated feeling urgently executed, and an irresistible account of Der Musensohn is preferable to issued versions because of its uninhibited verve. Two versions of Wolf’s Storchenbotschaft are included; the first from 1948 the simpler, more natural, the second from 1951 a shade over-elaborated, not quite avoiding the song’s insufferable coyness.
The remaining Wolf songs, all recorded in 1951, disclose Dame Elisabeth, this early in her career, as complete mistress of this Fach. Three songs demand mention: Bedeckt mich mit Blumen, always a favourite with the singer, for its dreamy eroticism ideally adumbrated and sung with just the vibrancy called for, a reading of Im Fruhling, filled with spring’s yearning, and Wiegenlied im Sommer, in which Schwarzkopf’s soothing, tender tones would persuade any child to untroubled sleep (as would Schubert’s lullaby earlier on the disc). Throughout, Gerald Moore is the soprano’s ever-faithful and supportive partner, and EMI’s clear, clean recording adds to profound pleasure in an issue lovingly performed and lovingly prepared, with evocative photos and full texts and translations.'
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf - The Unpublished EMI Recordings(1946-52)
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