Transcript
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
In the fall of 2019, the opera world suddenly lost one of its greatest voices...
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
JESSYE NORMAN: (Singing in non-English language).
KELLY: ...Soprano Jessye Norman. She died unexpectedly at age 74. She was a perfectionist who left numerous recordings in the vaults. Now, some of that unheard music is being released in a three-volume set. And our reviewer, NPR's Tom Huizenga, has been reveling in it.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
NORMAN: (Singing in non-English language).
TOM HUIZENGA, BYLINE: "Jessye Norman: The Unreleased Masters" is an opera lover's treasure trove of superb singing. Few voices in history gave us such Grand Canyon opulence, vastness and color.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
NORMAN: (Singing in non-English language).
HUIZENGA: That's from Richard Strauss' "Four Last Songs." Norman's 1982 commercial recording is unrivaled, but this live version from seven years later is swifter and benefits from moving that voluptuous voice more forward in the mix. It is bewildering, but Norman never approved the recording. It was to be paired on an album with this Wagner's "Wesendonck Lieder." Listen how she spins out a thread of pure gold on a single word - vergluhen, which means fading.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TRAUME")
NORMAN: (Singing in German).
HUIZENGA: Yes, that voice belongs to the little girl from Augusta, Ga., who dared sit in the whites only section at the train station and who became a towering figure in the opera world. Jessye Norman was a fearless woman of conscience. She carefully sculpted her career, choosing music like perfectly tailored clothing to fit her majestic instrument. Here's a good example. In ravishing music by Hector Berlioz, Norman portrays a frustrated Cleopatra.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LA MORT DE CLEOPATRE")
NORMAN: (Singing in French).
HUIZENGA: That music was supposed to be on an album in the early '90s depicting three historic queens in music by Haydn, Berlioz and Benjamin Britten. But Norman didn't like the studio mix, which was corrected for this release. Here she is in Britten's cantata, "Phaedra," as the queen of Athens who decides to poison herself to the accompaniment of a creepy harpsichord.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "OH GODS OF WRATH")
NORMAN: (Singing) Oh, gods of wrath, how far I've travelled on my dangerous path.
HUIZENGA: Jessye Norman's Mount Everest was the lead role in Wagner's massive "Tristan Und Isolde." Knowing she would never sing it on stage, she headed to the recording studio in 1998. But the sessions grew contentious, and she gave up. Still, there's 67 minutes of excerpts on this set, including the final, glorious "Liebestod."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LIEBESTOD")
NORMAN: (Singing in German).
HUIZENGA: Although Jessye Norman didn't officially approve all the recordings in this set, her family eventually did. And for that, we are grateful to be able to hear her magnificent voice soar once again.
KELLY: The album is "Jessye Norman: The Unreleased Masters." Our reviewer is NPR's Tom Huizenga.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LIEBESTOD")
NORMAN: (Singing in German). Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.