Among the plethora of German sopranos plying their craft in the middle of the 20th century, few were as consistently insightful as Irmgard Seefried. Here was a singer possessed of one of those flawless voices, not only effortless in delivery, but with a gift for penetrating to the emotional heart of a song without ever appearing to try. In short, hers was the perfect example of the art that conceals art.

Irmgard Seefried. Photo © Fayer/DG

“We all envied her, because all that we had to struggle so hard to achieve seemed so natural and self-evident to her because she knew how to sing from the heart,” said Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, who with her artfulness often on full display was both Seefried’s colleague and her antithesis. It’s equally interesting to compare her with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, her partner here in Lieder by Hugo Wolf. Where the great German baritone strives – and few strive as mightily and with such consistently engrossing results as he – Seefried simply is.

Seefried was born in Bavaria in 1919, the daughter of Austrian-born parents. Her career stretched from 1940 until 1976, but like others of her...