A generation of opera lovers must have now grown up who know little or nothing of Rita Gorr's generous art, which is their loss. The situation may be partly rectified by this issue. Gorr was a noted Verdian (Amneris and Eboli in particular) and Wagnerian (Fricka, Ortrud), but was possibly at her most potent of all in her own language (Berlioz's Dido, Massenet's Herodias and Charlotte). At least that was my feeling after hearing these two records taken from live performances. In a generalized way her Mahler is appealing; she produces, big, warm, wrap-round tone and conveys the heartbreak of the deserted lover and the grieving parent in the two shorter cycles, but one doesn't sense any special understanding of the texts and their meaning. Never the most flexible of instrument's, Gorr's mezzo finds difficulty in giving much light and shade to the line. By the time the Lied von der Erde was made she was having problems with notes above the stave; even so, I find a great deal to admire here in her rich, sympathetic account of the last song with its grave, significant utterance. Earlier she is hampered by Sebastian's rather flat conducting. In a curious way, this performance is most rewarding for the enshrinement of Kenneth MacDonald's under-recorded art. He was to die little more than a year after singing in this performance at far too early an age. Here his airy, well-pointed singing of the third and fifth songs finds his silvery tenor at its best. The first is a bit beyond his lyrical voice.
As for Gorr, when we reach her account of ''Je vais mourir'', we catch the totality of her art, and her classically French enunciation, conveying all the despair of the forsaken Dido. No less elevated is her version of the Liebestod. She recorded these arias for EMI (both long deleted), but these live interpretations have just that much more presence, and the womanly sensuousness and tenderness make us excuse the occasionally edgy quality in the tone. Gorr was undoubtedly one of the greats even if there were flaws in her vocal armoury. She needs to be heard and remembered. Happily her contributions to several complete opera sets are still available. The Iphigenie en Tauride highlights (HMV ASD456, 5/62) would be welcome back.'