GREAT RECORDINGS phase 16

WAGNER: Wesendonck-Lieder · Isoldes Liebestod
BRAHMS: ALTO RHAPSODY · MAHLER: 5 LIEDER
BEETHOVEN: Abscheulicher! (‘Fidelio’)
Christa Ludwig
Philharmonia Orchestra
Otto Klemperer

3 61594 2 (Angel: 3 61596 2)
Recorded 1962 & 1964
Stereo/ADD
74 minutes

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‘Christa Ludwig’s glorious voice is heard here in a magnificent reading of the Alto Rhapsody, attractive and illuminating accounts of the Wesendonck-Lieder and a group of Mahler songs in which the beautifully restrained and poetical alternates with the grandly monumental, the infinitely touching with the gentle and ethereal.’ (The Gramophone)
Diapason d’Or, Choc du Monde de la Musique & Timbre de Platine de l’Opéra International, France

This compilation of recordings from the early 1960s celebrates the collaboration between two widely honoured artists of the 20th century: Otto Klemperer (1885–1973) and Christa Ludwig (born 1924). A third collaborator is the producer and founder of the Philharmonia Orchestra, Walter Legge, who brought the conductor and mezzo-soprano together for these memorable EMI recordings.

In 1962, Ludwig and Klemperer recorded a hugely successful Fidelio, in which surprisingly, but very successfully, the singer was cast in the heroic soprano role of Leonore. The recording has become a classic and Ludwig’s ‘Abscheulicher!’ is included here, alongside the Liebestod from Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, also recorded in 1962 and another soprano role but one perhaps wisely she did not go on to perform complete.

Also on this newly remastered disc, Ludwig’s lovely voice is heard in Wagner’s Wesendock-Lieder, Brahms’s Alto Rhapsody and a group of songs by Mahler (three of the Rückert songs and two settings of texts from Des Knaben Wunderhorn recorded in 1964). The CD therefore and for the first time brings together all Christa Ludwig’s solo recordings with Klemperer.