This makes such a lovely beginning that one is doubly loath to report eventual disappointment. The arias from Der Freischutz are sung in the fine Lemnitz tradition of gently rounded tone, beautifully sustained phrases and unspoilt line. In the cavatina the mood is serenely set, and the quickened impulse of the middle section is sensitively reflected. The great solo in Act 2 has a delightful freshness of response: when she exclaims about the brightness of the stars it is as though she has just this minute looked up and noticed them. The ‘grand tune’ from the Overture, so awkwardly written for the voice, is clearly articulated without smudges or intrusive changes of register. Pamina’s aria, too, is sung with all due beauty of voice and expression, the unaccompanied falling notes at the end touchingly lonesome and disconsolate. It may not be until the fifth track, Elisabeth’s greeting in Tannhauser, that Time “that takes survey of all the world” has to be acknowledged. This most lovely voice retains a good deal of its quality but it is not untouched. The vibrations are not as tight, the upper notes not as pure and the middle register has not acquired power and fullness to compensate.
This is the most important factor in determining the success of much that follows. Sieglinde’s “Du bist der Lenz” wants power and colour in just that part of the voice where they are least available. There is also some sense of diminished volume, so that this and Ariadne’s monologue seem small-scale. In Daphne and Die Aegyptische Helena the relatively high tessitura frees the voice from more inappropriate demands, but now one is too often aware of a tinkle on the surface of notes which a few years earlier would have been glorious to hear. Even in Marietta’s song from Die tote Stadt the expectation of full-bodied sound freely released is thwarted as she opts instead for a more delicate style and produces this rather small, rather undernourished tone with a dreamy, inward expression in place of the rapt exultancy we remember from Lotte Lehmann.
The orchestral playing provides pleasure throughout, especially in the lengthy passage in Daphne before the wordless voice is heard from off-stage. Recorded sound is fine, and although, as I say, there may be some disappointment experienced during the course, the recital is still worth having for certain items, most notably those from Der Freischutz.JBS