When does a singer become accepted? Or, rather, at what exact point is one of the great ones (a Schumann, Lehmann, Schwarzkopf) taken up into the pantheon? I think it is at that point when at the first sound of the voice in the first phrase of the song one welcomes an old friend with that small leap of the heart that tells where the affections lie. Elly Ameling's career has developed in such an orderly progression—from 'sound' to 'promising' to 'very good' to that little extra of individuality, depth and quality by which one identifies the great ones. Nowadays, it needs no more than a few notes of a Schubert song to produce that happy moment of recognition and response to all that she has to offer. Which includes: now, after many years of singing, a still bell-like purity of voice, a sure control and, most movingly, a live feeling for communication, holding the interest and exaggerating nothing. Here, the very first phrase of Liebesbotschaft reaches out and communicates. It also becomes clear that we are to have a sensitively linked, finely shaded recital, the dark secret sickness of the rose casting its shadow on the mountain peaks beyond which lies peace. In the second song, Wehmut, there is a lovely example of the 'paling' of vocal colour in response to the text without draining the tone of its natural beauty.
Touching too are the subdued joy in the ending of Sehnsucht and the veiled tone of the invocation in the first Wandrers Nachtlied. Side 2 brings Heidenroslein with its fine mastery of the art of telling a story simply, intimately and vividly. The gently luminous Abendstern and the imaginatively darkened Gondelfahrer—with its strange suggestion of kinship with Der Doppelganger—are among the less expected pleasures of the recital. Dalton Baldwin keeps his touch light and considerate; Das Zugenglocklein in particular is a lovely example of well-judged rubato and skilful separating and balancing of the different elements that make up the piano part. Well recorded and well presented: ''A Bouquet Of Schubert'' it is called, and one that is unlikely to fade.'