The photography on the original CD and the labelling are somewhat tricksy, deceptive even: they list the programme of a recital given at the 1990 Salzburg Festival, whereas this recording was made several months after the event, in a studio in New York. What matters, though, is clearly the stunning vocal powers of the American diva, and the magisterial piano accompaniment supplied by her old accomplice James Levine.
This homage to the German Lied starts with the cycle of Six Lieder, Op.48 (after Gellerts Lieder) by Beethoven and continues with a substantial selection of Lieder from the Italienisches and Spanisches Liederbuch by Hugo Wolf, into the middle of which the two musicians have slyly slid five melodies by a young Debussy still under the influence of Massenet. It's an elegant way of saluting four great European nations from the height of an Austrian summer...
A performer for concerts rather than operas, Jessye Norman has given recitals all over the world, meeting with overwhelming enthusiasm every time. Her arrival on stage was itself an impressive spectacle. Her imposing stature, often topped off with a coloured turban, lent her the air of a goddess from antiquity. This first visual impression was followed up by the deployment of a full and powerful voice which could also whisper imperceptible pianissimos.
"Sometimes when I hear your voice, it breaks my heart. But all of the time when I hear your voice, it healed my soul", as the Nobel-prize-winning novelist Toni Morrison once said, who herself died a few weeks before the great singer, in summer 2019. © François Hudry/Qobuz