Wolf, H: Mignon IV 'Kennst du das Land' (No. 9 from Goethe-Lieder)

Multi-award winning opera singer Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, praised for the ‘pristine beauty of her lyric soprano’ (The Guardian), was revered in opera houses worldwide and is perhaps most famous for her Mozart roles. However, she was also at home on the concert stage and this collection combines her acclaimed portrayals of Donna Elvira, Countess Almaviva and Richard Strauss’s Marschallin, among others, with her affecting interpretations of lieder and song-cycles.

Susan Graham’s eagerly awaited new ONYX CD is a characteristically wide ranging recital which covers a wide spectrum of female emotions as experienced by the virgins, vixens and one of the most frightening of viragos – Lady Macbeth, all captured here in song. In addition to these emotional extremes, there are also lighter issues for a girl to confront, in the Poulenc, and a fruitless pursuit of a boy in the Sondheim to lighten the mood! Susan is one of the great mezzo sopranos of our time, renowned for her operatic performances, and for her recitals. Her earlier CD for ONYX ‘Un frisson francais – A century of French Song' was widely praised.

For this new recording on Capriccio mother and son unite. For more than fifteen years Renate Behle has been one of the world’s most outstanding interpreters of dramatic roles. With her “warm, sumptuous, full voice” whose “sound is etched in one’s memory” (Financial Times), she has thrilled audiences and critics alike on nearly every major opera stage in the world. Here she performs a recital of works by Mendelssohn, Schumann, Beethoven and Brahms amongst others, with her son Daniel, a tenor in great demand on the major opera and concert stages of the world.

These recordings taken from the legendary Capriccio-Archive bring some of the world’s leading singers together.

A document out of the ordinary: Elisabeth Schwarzkopf's Lieder recordings with her accompanist Michael Raucheisen, made on 6th January 1958 at the RIAS studios in Berlin, are an impressive example of the fruitful cooperation between these two artists. They performed together as early as 1942, at the beginning of Schwarzkopf's glittering career, and more than one and a half decades later this artistic partnership drew to a close with these recordings.These interpretations of selected songs by Wolf, Schubert and Strauss, made available for the first time, reveal new facets of her creative art.The CD is completed with music by Purcell, Arne and Quilter - Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Michael Raucheisen at the height of their abilities.

Opening concert of the 2007/8 Wigmore Hall season Notes on the encore by Christine: ‘A City Called Heaven’ negro spiritual I grew up in a family of singers, many of whom sang gospel music. My brothers and I quite often joined our mother in the church to sing gospel music and spirituals. This music has always been an important part of my life, so I try to include spirituals in my programs whenever I can. I find in the spirituals that no matter what the obstacles are, there is a deep underlying sense of hope and joy. This is what draws me to such music and gives me such joy to sing.

‘Ich liebe dich’ Richard Strauss: This is one of the many Strauss lieder that I have sung for years, and that Roger and I have performed and recorded. This song also exudes such utter joy that it's difficult not to just want to burst out in laughter at the end of it. It has one of the most exuberant postludes of any of Strauss' songs, and I love it!

‘Mira’ Bob Merrill: I started performing Mira about 20 years ago when I did little recitals and concerts around St. Louis. This song spoke to me right away, because it is about a girl who is missing her hometown where everyone knows her name. I grew up in a town of 500 and now live in a town of about 3,500, so I truly know what it is like to walk down the street and know most of the townspeople. There is a comfort in that for me, and I miss it when I am travelling around the world. I think I sang this song as an encore the very first time that I sang at the Wigmore Hall. It became one of Bill Lyne's favourites and he asked me to sing it at his farewell concert. So it has become a standard for me at the Wigmore, and one that always makes me think of home and all those folks there as well as my friends here in London when I sing it!