Search - Lotte Lehmann :: Complete 1947-49 Victor Recordings

The pleasure of her company

F. Behrens | Keene, NH USA | 02/11/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Just when Lotte Lehmann retired from the opera stage and decided to devote the rest of her life to Song, she was invited by RCA Victor to commit to wax a good deal of her non-operatic repertory. We are quite fortunate that Romophone label has now given us the results: (81033-2). Of course her voice has lost some of that luster you can hear on her earlier recordings, but this is more than compensated for by the maturity of her artistry. This is fully aged wine. Just listen to how carefully she treats the texts, especially the German ones. We can wax rhapsodic as does the writer of the liner notes and say how she "provokes a gut reaction: this woman is peering into the very depths of her being..." and hyperbole like that. More to the point, she sings these songs as if she means every word; and what more can any artist do than convince the listener? The songs she chose for these sessions include 7 by Schubert, 12 by Brahms, and others by Strauss, some French composers, and even Irving Berlin ("God Bless America"). The ones most familiar to American audiences, other than the last mentioned, will be "Silent Night" in German, a vocalized "Traumerei," and "The Kerry Dance." For lovers of Lieder and vocal music in general, this is a Must for any collection."