Jessye Norman at large

A career celebrated in 47 discs Throughout her career, Jessye Norman recorded recitals with Philips, Deutsche Grammophon and Decca, all of which are now available in a 47-disc retrospective to celebrate what would have been her 75th birthday. The limited-edition box-set features studio and live recordings spanning lieder, American songbook classics, spirituals, seasonal music and sacred songs.

Highlights include her acclaimed performance of Strauss’s Four

Last Songs with Kurt Masur and the Gewandhaus Orchestra, plus previously unreleased recordings of works by Berlioz, Britten and Wagner with the Boston Symphony and Berlin Philharmonic. The starry line-up includes chamber performances with pianists Daniel Barenboim and James Levine, and two discs of recordings with film composer John Williams conducting or at the piano. Away from the more traditional classical works, you get a taste of her passion for other genres in her recital with jazz pianist Michel Legrand and her 1990 collaboration with soprano Kathleen Battle and conductor James Levine at Carnegie Hall, ‘Spirituals in Concert’.

There are also three DVDS included in the set, one of which – a live recording of Handel and Schubert and Schumann lieder from the 1987 Hohenems Festival in Austria – is receiving its first release. An in-depth portrait of Norman’s musical life, featuring interviews and performances of works from her repertoire, as well as a film of two full-length concerts from Notre Dame and Ely Cathedral, showcasing Norman’s vast range with carols, gospel songs and works by Handel and Bach, complete the set. Philips/dg/decca 485 1014