On September 15, 2006, Arabesque Records released the first in a series of recordings in tribute to the artistic legacy of Lotte Lehmann. This unique document features spoken and sung tributes by students of Lotte Lehmann, as well as performances by advisors of the Lotte Lehmann Foundation.After retiring from the recital stage, Lotte Lehmann devoted her activities toward establishing the Music Academy of the West. Here she directed opera productions and taught master classes in opera and art song. Lehmann pioneered the phenomenon of the modern master class, which today has assumed such a central position in the training of young artists.
The recording features Lotte Lehmann in a live performance late in her career of a Mendelssohn song followed by a interpretive discussion of the same song from one of her master classes.
Many of the young singers who studied with her went on to significant musical careers. A good number of these singers, among them Marcella Reale, Mildred Miller, Lotfi Mansouri (who studied as a singer with Lehmann), Norman Mittelmann, Marni Nixon, Alice Marie Nelson, and Grace Bumbry, have contributed to this CD with reminiscences and/or songs recorded especially for this release which had a special significance in their work with Lehmann.
The recording also features performances by members of the advisory board of the Lotte Lehmann Foundation recently recorded specifically for this tribute. Performers include some of today’s most important interpreters of art song, including Nathalie Stutzmann, Christoph Prégardien, Wolfgang Holzmair, Jennifer Larmore, Juliane Banse, and others.
This recording came about through the efforts of Gary Hickling, founder and past president of the Lotte Lehmann Foundation, who oversaw every aspect of the production. In his words, “saddened by the death of a number of former Lehmann students, I recognized the pressing need to preserve the reminiscences of those who remained.” So many artists responded to the invitation to participate that another release comprising further material is being planned. The complete spoken reminiscences are to be housed in the Lehmann Archives at the University of California Santa Barbara and in Perleberg, Germany, Lehmann’s birthplace, as well as being archived on the Lehmann Foundation’s website, www.lottelehmann.org.
Lotte Lehmann Foundation board president Daron Hagen greeted the release with these words: “As every musician knows, our mentors pass along to us the traditions of the past through oral history – the most important things never make it into textbooks. This recording not only memorializes a great musical artist, it also sketches a portrait of her world; it offers to music lovers and singers everywhere a glimpse into Lehmann’s teaching studio through recorded reminiscences and musical performances by many of the finest musical citizens of our time. It is both touching and instructive ... an important historical document.”
The release is available in most retail stores, may be purchased online through amazone.com, tower.com, and barnesandnoble.com; it may also ordered online directly from Arabesque Records by clicking here: http://www.arabesquerecordings.com/product_info.php?products_id=596
