Search - Irmgard Seefreid :: Arias & Songs

Her message was simple and went straight to the heart

Manuel Reguillo-Cruz | 04/11/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Yes, her message was simple because she was a true artist. She had that rarest and modest of characteristics: the sense of team-work. She cultivated the practice of the Ensamble and was part of the now legendary Ensamble of Vienna, along with the Elisabeths, Schwarzkopf and Grümmer, Anton Dermota, Erna Berger, and of course Conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler. They used to rehearse for months, the same group, before a Salzburg, Vienna or Berlin performance of, say, a Mozart's opera. Those efforts were the main reason for their becoming 'historic' and great recordings of the century.Irmgard Seefried's voice was a light lyric soprano, ideal for Mozart's delicate heroines, and thus she became the darling of postwar musical Europe as Sussana.And it is Mozart with which the disc starts. To hear singing like this in the two concert arias is sheer delight. A little old fashion if you will, but who can sing to her standards today? Or who can sustain the melodic line of the glorious aria of Zaide with steadiness and delicacy as she does? This disc is the jewel in the crown of so many reissues by Testament.What can I say of her Mozart songs. Some critics prefer her rendition to that of Schwarzkopf's. While Schwarzkopf is majestic and delicious, Seefried is a story teller, with naturalness and spontaneity. Fresh and vibrant those songs come to life in her delicate timbre.Her Schubert is special, too. Her rendition of Auf dem Wasser zu Singen is both, sorrowful and dark , just as Schubert meant it to be.The recording ends with three difficult Lieder by Hugo Wolf sung effortlesly. Irmgard Seefried's voice was stilled in 1980. Her succesor has not appeared yet."

Great style

Per Hedberg | Copenhagen Denmark | 07/16/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a true gem of a recording. Seefried, too neglected and strangely forgotten in the ocean of CD-reissues of older performers, presents a level of artistry which will never be surpassed, perhaps not even equalled. Her effortless, distinct and absolutely natural rendering of the arias and songs here is quite marvellous, in the true sense of the word. Each word is heard, each musical phrase is presented with the utmost simplicity and thus the more hearfelt. I am so happy to be able to indulge these wonderful performances again and again. I can only wish someone gets going reissuing her other recitals, for example the lovely one with Mussorgsky's Children's songs."

A discovery

Per Hedberg | 11/20/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Among the jungle of five-star ratings, this one is for real. Effortlessly Ms Seefried sings, no matter it is Mozart or Schubert. This recording deserves to be more widely known and praised."