The greatest of Leider’s Wagnerian solos are here, and she, in the opinion of many, was the greatest of Wagnerian sopranos. Let us not get sidetracked about that now (it’s a proposition that is bound to raise objections): the point is that several of these recordings have an essential place in any collection of the century’s singers, and that if the reader does not already have Leider’s singing of Isolde’s Narrative or Brunnhilde’s plea and Immolation scene, then here they are, and in excellent transfers.
But the eye travels a little further and sees a programme of Lieder following after the operatic excerpts; and these are recordings which, while not previously unknown in this country, are certainly a good deal less familiar. They come from towards the end of Leider’s career, when with the outbreak of war she gave up opera and for a few years devoted herself to concert work. She studied the song repertoire with Michael Raucheisen, who accompanies her here, and eventually she made her final appearance, with him, in November 1943 at the Berlin Singakademie, which was destroyed by bombers later that very night. As far as these records enable us to judge, her success in the new field was limited. There are lovely things, most especially in the Schumann songs (the affectionate lyricism in Meine Rose, a lightening of mood and voice in Marienwurmchen, and a generous natural responsiveness in Widmung). But the Erlkonig is allowed a less than well-judged easing of tempo every now and then; Auf dem Wasser zu singen lacks the needful grace; and Fruhlingstraum is deprived of the art which makes developments seem real and immediate. That, moreover, comes from 1942 and is one of four unpublished records which show an ageing voice, not helped by being placed too close to the microphone in relation to the piano.
Yet even to the end, there was a thrill, and at the same time a sense of something aristocratic, about Leider’s singing. In the Wagner we hear how completely she avoided the thick tone, not to mention the slow beat, that are so endemic among Wagnerian heroic sopranos. She would sometimes disappoint on the highest notes, as she does in Isolde’s curse (but not in the triumphant high Bs of Brunnhilde’s Battle cry). Sometimes one is aware that records cannot have captured the full intensity of her presence: precious mementoes of a great artist even so.'