Originally issued on two CDs, this distinguished recital inevitably suffers in its reduction to suit the playing-time of a single disc. Removed, for instance, are two magical songs from the Brentano Lieder Op 68, and amazingly gone absent-without-leave (from Strauss-lovers at any rate) is the rare and charming waltz-song, Ein Obdach gegen Sturm und Regen which suits this singer as though it had been written for her. Plenty remains though, all of it highly welcome.
The programme is arranged chronologically. The 19-year-old's Rote Rosen, a love song unpublished till 1958, makes an enchanting introductory number, and though a long lifetime separates it from the last, Malven (literally 'Mallows' but here 'Hollyhocks', 1948), both songs clearly and movingly come from the same mind. Passing in vivid procession are the 'pops' (if that is not too debased a word) of Opp 10 and 27, the enraptured Liebeshymnus, the maturer tenderness of Winterweihe and Waldseligkeit, and then a gap of 17 years before the Brentano settings, with their implicit call for a Zerbinetta and Ariadne in one.
Gruberova fulfils the requirement wonderfully well. Her clear bright voice, unlike that of many coloratura sopranos, knows warmth. Moreover - and this also is none too common in the species - she has the musical and textual understanding to respond to changes of mood and harmony, even in the broad melodic sweep of Zueignung ('und du segnetest den Trank') and Liebeshymnus. She brings a sense of humour to Nichts, and a touching feeling of sublimation to Morgen. Just occasionally the recording catches a beat on sustained notes, as at the start of In der Campagna, which soon steadies the beam of its radiance. In songs such as Amor and the fascinating Jung-hexenlied she is ideal. Her partner, Friedrich Haider, has a fine feeling for the 'orchestration' of Strauss's piano writing, and the recording (which seems to undergo a change of acoustic) has been carefully supervised.'