A Singer Whose Records Convey a Living Presence.
John Austin | Kangaroo Ground, Australia | 10/04/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Fifty years ago I heard Elisabeth Schumann sing in London's Royal Albert Hall. I have never heard a more beautiful voice nor German so clearly enunciated. I have been waiting all this time to hear anything comparable. Meanwhile most of her large discography has been digitally remastered and reissued on CD, and this fine Romophone CD presents some of the best. Here are her Mozart opera excerpts, which no one should be without, and her Viennese songs and operetta excerpts. In some of the latter she can be heard whistling like a nightingale. Always a singer whose records conveyed a living presence, she seems wonderfully close and immediate in these Romophone transfers executed by Mark Obert-Thorn. As if all this were not good enough value, included also is a selection of photos of the singer, and a six page biography contributed by her grand-daughter."