The many fine recordings by Christa Ludwig include several conducted by Otto Klemperer. She displays blazing intensity as Leonora in Fidelio, passion as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni and intense longing in Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder; she excels in two works by Mahler, with a restrained, haunting beauty in the Abschied of Das Lied von der Erde and perfect nuance in the Rückert-Lieder.
Among their other classic collaborations were Bach’s St Matthew Passion, The Magic Flute and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. With Leonard Bernstein as composer/conductor, I recall her knockout performance as the Old Lady in Candide with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican.
