The collector's eye (used to flicking through lists of contents to see whether there is anything new under the sun) will perhaps have rested for a moment on the figure 35. Hempel's is one of the glamorous names of the pre-electrical era, but her career continued for many more years after that and indeed, according to her autobiography (Berlin: 1955), she sang in public for the last time as late as 1951. So it would have been theoretically possible for her even to have recorded on LP. The in-between period, the 'electrical', does have a place, albeit a small one, in her discography, for in 1935 she recorded four songs in Berlin. Two of those were published by the International Record Collectors' Club many years ago, and one of them is included here. This is called Zweigesang, written by Karl Mangold, and credibly reported as having been a favourite with Jenny Lind (figuring therefore in Hempel's Jenny Lind recitals). It is a mildly, prettily, coy song, and the interest lies in the opportunity to hear Hempel's voice as it was ten years after her last recordings. It shows little about her range, but within the middle register we hear a tone that is still exceptional in its purity, and, still more impressively, a voice which had remained (at moderate volume, at least) absolutely firm.
The Frieda Hempel we already know, the coloratura extraordinaire, the distinguished singer of Mozart, the delicious Gilda and Rosina whose translation into German troubles us not a whit, is amply represented in some of the best of her solo recordings as well as in the Rigoletto duet with the superb Amato (a pity, however, not to have the Traviata as well). Her Baa, baa, black-sheep variations (Ah, vous dirai-je, Maman) is there: a dazzler and a charmer too. Wein, Weib und Gesang brings the account up to 1917, lilting along with a much more positive orchestral presence, and still highly accomplished if perhaps just beginning to suggest that the top notes were not to last for ever. It also reminds us that an alternative recital can be found on Pearl (C GEMMCD9032), duplicating six of the items but providing a wider selection of songs. The transfers are sharper on Pearl, and the Nimbus resonance will not suit all ears. Lovely sound, nevertheless: immaculate copies: the voice pure and warm, as we understand it to have been in the flesh: the technical skills clear and frequently wondrous to the hearing.'