Buriedtreasure

Mezzo Alice Coote introduces us to a selection of her favourite recordings

Weill Die Muschel von Margate – ‘Petroleum Song’ Teresa Stratas (soprano), Richard Woitach (piano) Nonesuch D-79019

My father used to play Kurt Weill while he was painting in his studio on the top floor of the house. The songs on this disc aren’t that often performed and this one just feels so current right now. It’s basically about the destruction of Margate by oil companies, and the refrain is ‘A thousand corpses make a well – Shell, Shell, Shell’. Teresa Stratas was a truly great communicator. She lends her edge to this, plus a real theatricality. I can’t get enough of it.

Schubert Winterreise – 1952 Radio Recording Dietrich Fischer-dieskau (baritone), Hermann Reutter (piano) Audite 95580

Fischer-dieskau did this a few years after he was a prisoner of war. It’s not unsophisticated, but it hasn’t been recorded for connoisseurs – with the hindsight of everything we know about how this piece can be sung, because it hadn’t been recorded that much at that point. The level of pain in his voice, which he’s almost trying to hide, is just so evident and incredibly moving.

Ravi Shankar – India’s Master Musician Ravi Shankar (sitar) et al World Pacific Records ST-1430

The first few chords of this 1960s live album used to ring out through our house like some sort of spiritual last post! I love the fact that it’s him improvising on basic themes. What also appeals to me is that it’s really like a Baroque exposition, like I try to do when I’m singing Baroque operas. It’s spiritual, virtuosic and extraordinary. Ravi Shankar seems to go to a place that we need to be in right now.

Alice Coote’s album of Schubert songs is out on 1 May on Hyperion