Here’s to the Ladies who sing Lieder! Aren’t they a gas? This week, I am pleased to bring you unique performances of repertoire warhorses sung by three legends.

Jessye Norman (or as Wikipedia names her: Jessye Mae Norman; Jessye Mae mucho?) was a mere 28 when she sang the Wesendonck Lieder with Pierre Boulez at a London Proms Concert. Cancellation queen Anja Harteros is in her prime at 36 in this live performance of Strauss’ Vier letzte Lieder. At the opposite end of the spectrum, at 53 Lotte Lehmann was winding down her long career in 1941 when she recorded Winterreise, although she continued to give concerts and an occasional opera performance for another decade.

Richard Wagner: Wesendonck Lieder

BBC Symphony Orchestra
Jessye Norman, soprano
Pierre Boulez, conductor
26 July 1974
Royal Albert Hall

I. Der Engel
II. Stehe still!
III. Im Treibhaus
IV. Schmerzen
V. Träume

Richard Strauss: Vier letzte Lieder

Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks
Anja Harteros, soprano
Mariss Jansons, conductor
Philharmonie, München
25 March 2009

I. Frühling
II. September
III. Beim Schlafengehen
IV. Im Abendrot

Franz Schubert: Winterreise

Lotte Lehmann, soprano
Paul Ulanowsky, piano
New York City 1941