Gueden, as the notes (in German only) tell us, created a sensation at the Metropolitan, where she first appeared in 1951, just before these recordings were made. “Fraulein Opera Glamour”, “Blonde Venus sings Lieder” and other similar newspaper slogans accompanied her performances during ten seasons in New York. She made her debut at Covent Garden in 1947, when the Vienna State Opera company visited London, returning in 1956 as Gilda. Otherwise, she reigned supreme as the soubrette-prima-donna in Vienna. Although she eventually graduated from Susanna to the Countess (Figaro), and added roles with which we do not associate her on disc – Melisande, Fiordiligi, Poppea, even Britten’s Lucretia – it is as an interpreter of Mozart and Strauss (Richard and Johann II) that she was admired on disc.
It is really fascinating to hear her as Ilia in these extracts from Idomeneo, conducted by Krauss, with whom she had sung Sophie for Strauss himself. Of the Italian items, the two arias from Turandot are especially fine (Gueden sang Liu in Vienna to the Turandot and Calaf of Rysanek and Roswaenge), but although her diction is clear she is much better when singing in German. Gueden must have suffered throughout her career from the obvious comparison with Schwarzkopf, and I suppose for those who claim to find Schwarzkopf’s singing mannered, the plainer vocal appeal of Gueden will suit. Her recordings are enjoyable, but she is not the sort of singer who benefits from being heard in a succession of arias. One begins to wonder if a little more than charm is required to differentiate between Pamina, Gilda, Violetta and even Lehar’s Giuditta.
Gueden is heard at her best, not on these early recital discs, but in complete performances: the 1954 Salzburg Ariadne with Bohm (DG, 11/94), Der Rosenkavalier of the same year with Erich Kleiber (Decca, 5/90) and Die Fledermaus, with Krauss (Decca, 10/92 – nla) and later, Karajan (the Decca ‘Gala’ version – 12/87 – as well as an ‘unofficial’ live one from Salzburg).'