This disc of live radio broadcast material from 1963, 1966, and 1968 catches Elisabeth Grümmer rather late in her distinguished career, on the shady side of the big 5-0. But have no fears: she’s in fine voice, her lovely soprano sailing through a stimulating program of Mendelssohn, Schoeck, Wolf, and Schumann’s Frauenliebe und leben. If the latter isn’t the high point of the set, that’s only because it’s so familiar and has been done to a turn by many others on disc. Grümmer’s performance is one of the better ones, sung with sentiment but not sentimentality, illuminating the text through the music rather than obscuring it through overemphasis as her contemporary, Elizabeth Schwarzkopf, was wont to do.
Grümmer’s marriage of text and song makes the opening Mendelssohn set so compelling; she brings a rapt inwardness to Nachtlied, and infuses Frühlingslied with a verdant glow. The Wolf songs too, come off well as she catches the nuanced demands of this elusive composer. I especially like her perky Sie blasen zum Abmarsch with its elaborate piano part played well by Aribert Reimann, and the equally perky In dem Schatten meiner Locken, precisely the kind of song Schwarzkopf used to smother with coyness. New to most listeners (they were to me) will be the nine lieder by the Swiss composer Othmar Schoeck. Grümmer made them in 1968 and we easily can ignore a fleeting moment or two of strain in the face of such artistry. Listen to the way she infuses Nachts with quiet drama and how effectively she explores the emotional depths in Nachruf, even as she holds the musical line with impeccable purity. I especially recommend this disc to admirers of Grümmer’s admirable opera recordings who have yet to discover that she also was an outstanding recitalist. The sound is more than adequate, but the lack of texts and translations is disappointing.
