Reissues

Brahms Songs and Duets

Brilliant Classics 95916 (2008) 196:29 mins (3 discs) Wide ranging selection and serviceable performances. Hartmut Volle’s voice is portentous and sometimes unfocused, but the folksong duets with Stéphanie Irányi are good. Recording quality is uneven and no translations are provided. ★★★

Clérambault Pyrame et Tisbé etc

Harmonia Mundi HAF 8901329 (1990) 68:08 mins The restrained artifice of these mythological tales is not in the modern taste, but the stylish poise of the performers is persuasive, and Noémi Rime’s voice is a glittering gem. ★★★★

Purcell Elizabethan Lute Songs; Birthday Odes

Erato 9029554315 (1972/75) 104:61 mins (2 discs) Pleasant 1970s accounts, though James Bowman’s countertenor voice has been overshadowed by recent, more flexible, rivals, and the perky but sedate speeds of the Birthday Odes now seem cautious. ★★★

Wolf Songs

Warner Classics 9029553928 (1953) 65:11 mins This 1953 Salzburg Festival live recording will delight some and puzzle others. The sound is good, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf is word-sensitive but slightly brittle, and Wilhelm Furtwängler rather stolid. The audience loved them. ★★★