Mezzo-soprano Elina Garanča has been known primarily as an operatic singer. This 2020 release on Deutsche Grammophon marks her debut on recordings in song repertory, although she and accompanist Malcolm Martineau performed these songs often in the months leading up to the recording, and there's nothing tentative about the performances. It's not saying too much to observe that Garanča here, more than in operatic recordings, brings the great Christa Ludwig to mind, although Ludwig sang lieder at all stages of her career. There's the gradual way in which Ludwig's voice matured over time, the sense of discovering things in it that one never knew were there. The overall richness of the voice, the depth in the lower register, the effortless power at the top: all these aspects will sound familiar to those who remember the German soprano, but none of it means that Garanča uses vocal beauty to skate across the meanings of the texts. She has a dramatic soprano's insight into Schumann's Frauenliebe und Leben, Op. 42, which brings out the arc of the cycle rather than letting it disintegrate into a set of individual songs. The individual Brahms lieder, mostly familiar numbers, have a real freshness here. Garanča's voice soars through it all, and it remains a wonder. May one hear more song repertory from this artist!