The occasion captured on this live 1969 recording from the Mozarteum in Salzburg was planned specifically for young people who had never been to a song recital before. Irmgard Seefried was fascinated by the task of winning over her first-time audience and chose her programme specially, which explains its diversity. The annals also tell us it was one of the last performances to have been recorded before her retirement. It would be nice to report that she bade farewell to the recital platform with her vocal faculties absolutely intact, but this disc provokes mixed feelings – pleasure at encountering again a much-loved artist’s infectious vivacity, balanced by acceptance that the voice is no longer in its prime.
Although she was only 50, Seefried’s gleaming soprano was already showing signs of strain at the top. Songs which demand the sustaining of a slow line around the top of the stave are particularly likely to cause difficulties, so Beethoven’s Wonne der Wehmut and Mahler’s ‘Wo die schonen Trompeten blasen’ encounter troublesome moments. Against that, there are songs in which Seefried and her accompanist, Erik Werba, are clearly enjoying the challenge of making contact with their young audience: a playful ‘Rheinlegendchen’, the luminous Strauss of Wiegenlied, the brilliant edge to the five songs Bartok songs. As so often on these occasions, the problems seem to melt away once the pressure is off, and her two encores, the Schubert and the Brahms, are pure delight. This disc is not a first choice as a memento of Seefried’s art, but her many admirers may feel it is an essential additional purchase none the less.'