Irmgard Seefried was a revered artist among lovers of natural singing, wrote the critic Alan Blyth. ‘The emotions, grave or gay, are expressed directly, unfussily, genuinely, in that peculiarly outgoing manner that was this artist’s supreme gift.’ This gift illuminates song repertoire from Bach to Bartók and beyond in a newly compiled and remastered set of her recital albums recorded by Deutsche Grammophon in the 1950s and 60s.
‘If I were condemned to hear only one voice for the remainder of my life I think it might well be hers,’ wrote Blyth on another occasion (a reissue of the 1953 ‘Liederabend’ anthology of concert performances). ‘If I wanted to be charmed, to laugh or to cry I would find her the perfect companion.’
The core of the set is formed by several albums of Romantic Lieder by Schubert, Schumann, Brahms and Wolf. As well as an imaginative collection of Goethe settings, there is an album of Heine and Schumann, poetry and song, in which the recited portions are reissued on CD for the first time. The set includes two appendices, both also new to CD: Seefried’s contribution to the DG audio documentary series ‘Erzähltes Leben’, and ‘Erik Werba Accompanies You’, in which the soprano’s regular recital partner plays the piano part for famous Lieder (with the idea that the listener at home will take the sung line for themselves).
Seefried also made several opera recordings as well as sacred music for Deutsche Grammophon. Generous excerpts from these – often including entire scenes, not just arias – are included as newly-compiled anthologies across five CDs.
Seefried’s voice was renowned for its beauty and tonally purity, with minimal vibrato. Her diction was exquisite, as were her phrasing and legato in Schumann’s cycle of Mary, Queen of Scots Lieder. Especially in folksong repertoire such as the Liebeslieder-Walzer of Brahms, she contrived to give the impression that her art came easily to her, and that its expression was an inevitable extension of her personality, devoid of any suggestion of imposing her will upon the music.
But this impression was the essence of Seefried’s greatness, and it transferred to modern song repertoire, too: not only the opulent romanticism of Respighi’s Il tramonto but Werner Egk’s German-Mediterranean Quattro canzoni, and a selection of sacred solo motets by Paul Hindemith that surprised and delighted many critics on its first issue.
All the material in this Original Covers collection has been newly remastered, and the set is richly illustrated and accompanied by a new essay on Seefried’s art by Tully Potter as well as an English translation of Ein Selbstporträt by Fer van Campen.
CD 1
MOZART 9 Lieder
SCHUMANN Frauenliebe und Leben
Irmgard Seefried, soprano · Erik Werba, piano
CD 2
SCHUBERT Lieder
Irmgard Seefried, soprano · Erik Werba, piano
CD 3
SCHUBERT · SCHUMANN · BRAHMS Lieder
Irmgard Seefried, soprano · Erik Werba, piano
CD 4
SCHUMANN Lied und Dichtung
Irmgard Seefried, soprano · Oskar Werner, speaker · Erik Werba, piano
CD 5
BRAHMS Liebeslieder-Walzer (1962 studio recording* & 1952 ‘live’ recording°)
Neue Liebeslieder-Walzer (1962 studio recording)
*Irmgard Seefried, soprano · Raili Kostia, alto · Waldemar Kmentt, tenor · Eberhard Wächter, baritone · Erik Werba & Günther Weissenborn, piano
°Irmgard Seefried, soprano · Kathleen Ferrier, contralto · Julius Patzak, tenor · Horst Günther, bass-baritone · Clifford Curzon & Hans Gál, piano
CD 6
BRAHMS · RICHARD STRAUSS · CORNELIUS Lieder
Irmgard Seefried, soprano · Erik Werba, piano
CD 7
SCHUBERT ∙ BRAHMS · RICHARD STRAUSS · *REGER Lieder
HINDEMITH 3 Geistliche Motetten
Irmgard Seefried, soprano · Erik Werba, piano · *Wolfgang Schneiderhan, violin
EGK Quattro canzoni
Irmgard Seefried, soprano · Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks / Werner Egk
CD 8
WOLF Nimmersatte Liebe
Italienisches Liederbuch (excerpts)
Irmgard Seefried, soprano · Oskar Werner, speaker · Erik Werba, piano
CD 9
WOLF Spanisches Liederbuch
Irmgard Seefried, soprano · Eberhard Wächter, baritone · Erik Werba, piano
First complete release on CD
CD 10
WOLF Italienisches Liederbuch
Irmgard Seefried, soprano · Erik Werba, piano
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone · Jörg Demus, piano
CD 11
LIEDER NACH GEDICHTEN VON GOETHE
Mozart · Beethoven · Schubert · Schumann · Wolf
Irmgard Seefried, soprano · Erik Werba, piano
CD 12
LIEDERABEND IRMGARD SEEFRIED
Schubert · Brahms · Mussorgsky · Bartók · Wolf · Strauss
Irmgard Seefried, soprano · Erik Werba, piano
CD 13
J.S. BACH Wedding Cantata, BWV 202
RESPIGHI Il tramonto
MOZART Divertimento, K. 138*
Irmgard Seefried, soprano · Festival Strings Lucerne / Rudolf Baumgartner
MOZART Così fan tutte (arias – sung in German)°
Irmgard Seefried, soprano · Wiener Symphoniker / Ferdinand Leitner
*First Release on CD
°Previously unpublished
CD 14
IRMGARD SEEFRIED SINGS HANDEL & MOZART
Arias and scenes from Giulio Cesare & Così fan tutte
Irmgard Seefried, soprano
Karl Böhm; Eugen Jochum; Ferdinand Leitner
CD 15
IRMGARD SEEFRIED SINGS MOZART
Arias and scenes from Il re pastore, Don Giovanni & Le nozze di Figaro
Irmgard Seefried, soprano
Ferdinand Leitner; Ferenc Fricsay
CD 16
ROMANTIC HEROINES
Arias and scenes from Carmen (Bizet), Mignon (Thomas), Der Wildschütz (Lortzing) & Der Freischütz (Weber)
Irmgard Seefried, soprano
Ferdinand Leitner; Jean Fournet; Christoph Stepp; Eugen Jochum
CD 17
IRMGARD SEEFRIED SINGS BEETHOVEN & RICHARD STRAUSS
Scenes from Fidelio, Ariadne auf Naxos (1954 recording) & Der Rosenkavalier
Irmgard Seefried, soprano
Karl Böhm
CD 18
IRMGARD SEEFRIED SINGS SACRED MUSIC
Arias and Duets from Matthäus-Passion (J.S. Bach), Die Schöpfung (Haydn) & Messe solennelle de Ste. Cécile (Gounod)
Irmgard Seefried, soprano
Karl Richter; Igor Markevitch
CD 19
ERIK WERBA BEGLEITET SIE
(Erik Werba Accompanies You)
Erik Werba, piano
First Release on CD
CD 20
IRMGARD SEEFRIED – EIN SELBSTPORTRÄT
(Irmgard Seefried in Person)
First Release on CD
“Desert island recordings … a portrait of an exceptional artist at the height of her powers. If it’s not already in your collection, it should be.” Fanfare, March 2015 (Mozart, ‘Liederabend’)
“If you can resist the sixth waltz as sung on this disc, you have a heart of stone and something should be done about it.” Gramophone, August 1963 (Brahms: Liebeslieder-Walzer)
“One of Irmgard Seefried’s very best records, especially the Cornelius side … tenderly beautiful, and sung in clear, fresh beautiful tones.” Gramophone, August 1957 (Brahms/Cornelius)
“I have never heard Seefried so consistently in beautiful voice … Since these are recordings made at concert performances, the whole personality comes over very vividly.” Gramophone, March 1957 (‘Liederabend’)
“In her singing on these two discs we hear someone whose every utterance bespeaks natural sincerity and truthful feeling.” Gramophone, July 1993 (‘Liederabend’)
“An excellent virtuoso song, superbly brought off by Seefried … the recording is of the highest quality.” Gramophone, September 1962 (Egk)
“Miss Seefried’s contributions are extremely beautiful; she sings in ravishing tones, and with fullness of voice, no dainty hinting.” Gramophone, March 1958 (Schumann/Heine)
“Seefried’s veiled tone in the tragic last song is exactly right. Erik Werba accompanies very well” Gramophone, June 1958 (Schumann: Frauenliebe und Leben)
“Seefried appears at her very best, with Erik Werba providing a fine and understanding accompaniment.” Gramophone, December 1954 (Wolf: Italienisches Liederbuch – selections)
“All sung with artistry and tonal beauty.” Gramophone, July 1955 (Hindemith)
“Miss Seefried captures the changing moods of the song very successfully and touches off the humorous end perfectly.” Gramophone, September 1957 (Wolf: Nimmersatte Liebe)
“Wächter almost steals the show with his noble voice … Seefried excels in the pert mockery of ‘Sagt, seid Ihr es’… How meticulous Werba is over every nuance.” Gramophone, July 1960 (Wolf: Spanisches Liederbuch)
“Seefried sings them all quite beautifully … Werba accompanies admirably throughout. The recording is excellent.” Gramophone, September 1963 (Schubert/Schumann/Brahms)
“Masterclasses in Lieder performance abound on each and every disc … All of the recordings, encompassing the prime years of Seefried’s career (1952–63), are of the highest artistic quality and worthy of investigation.” Fanfare, May 2015
“Particularly noteworthy are the Bartók and Mussorgsky cycles, both sung in German, which afford her the opportunity for fast changes of mood and character.” Fanfare, September 1984 (‘Liederabend’)