Jessye Norman sings Strauss: Five Songs & Salome (Live)

For fans of the late, great Jessye Norman, or simply admirers of glorious voices, this album is a treasure. Recorded live in London in 1986, Norman, at the peak of her powers, offers two sides of Richard Strauss’ art: the lyrical and the dramatic. Starting with the rapturous “Cäcilie”, we are given five of the composer’s best-loved songs that allow this magnificent voice free rein. After Strauss’ delightful Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme Suite, Norman returns for the closing scene of Salome in a performance that powerfully conveys the character’s horrifying obsession in singing of exquisite control. Tennstedt and the LPO are superb partners.