Irmgard Seefried - Irmgard Seefried Edition [20CD]

Cat. no: ELQ4843250
Format: 20 x CD
Barcode: 028948432509
Release Date: 31 Jan 2025
Genre: Classical

"We all envied her, because all that we had to struggle so hard to achieve seemed so natural and self-evident to her because she knew how to sing from the heart" said Elisabeth Schwarzkopf of her colleague IRMGARD SEEFRIED.Collected here are Seefried's complete recital recordings for Deutsche Grammophon as well as highlights from her recordings of opera and sacred music for the label and includes material both unpublished and new to CD.Irmgard Seefried was a revered artist among lovers of natural singing, wrote the critic Alan Blyth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 Bartok 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 fnd 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 frst time. The set includes two appendices, both also new to CD: Seefried's contribution to the DG audio documentary series 'Erzahltes 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's greatness 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 frst 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 Selbstportrat by Fer van Campen.

"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:LiebesliederWalzer)

"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')

Tracks: MOZART 9 Lieder / SCHUMANN Frauenliebe und Leben / SCHUBERT Lieder / SCHUBERT . SCHUMANN . BRAHMS Lieder / SCHUMANN Lied und Dichtung / BRAHMS Liebeslieder-Walzer / BRAHMS . RICHARD STRAUSS . CORNELIUS Lieder / SCHUBERT \u2219 BRAHMS . RICHARD STRAUSS . *REGER Lieder / HINDEMITH 3 Geistliche Motetten / EGK Quattro canzoni / WOLF Nimmersatte Liebe / Italienisches Liederbuch (excerpts) / WOLF Spanisches Liederbuch / WOLF Italienisches Liederbuch / LIEDER NACH GEDICHTEN VON GOETHE / (Mozart . Beethoven . Schubert . Schumann . Wolf) / LIEDERABEND IRMGARD SEEFRIED / (Schubert . Brahms . Mussorgsky . Bartok . Wolf . Strauss) / J.S. BACH Wedding Cantata, BWV 202 / RESPIGHI Il tramonto / MOZART Divertimento, K. 138 / MOZART Cosi fan tutte (arias - sung in German / IRMGARD SEEFRIED SINGS HANDEL & MOZART / (Arias and scenes from Giulio Cesare & Cosi fan tutte) / IRMGARD SEEFRIED SINGS MOZART / (Arias and scenes from Il re pastore, Don Giovanni & Le nozze di Figaro ) / ROMANTIC HEROINES / (Arias and scenes from Carmen (Bizet), Mignon (Thomas), Der Wildschutz (Lortzing) & Der Freischutz (Weber)) / IRMGARD SEEFRIED SINGS BEETHOVEN & RICHARD STRAUSS / (Scenes from Fidelio, Ariadne auf Naxos (1954 recording) & Der Rosenkavalier) / IRMGARD SEEFRIED SINGS SACRED MUSIC / (Arias and Duets from Matthaus- Passion (J.S. Bach), Die Schopfung (Haydn) & Messe solennelle de Ste. Cecile (Gounod)) / ERIK WERBA BEGLEITET SIE (Erik Werba Accompanies You) / IRMGARD SEEFRIED - EIN SELBSTPORTRAT (Irmgard Seefried in Person)