This Naxos disc brings together Elisabeth Schwarzkopf’s two acclaimed mid-1950s recordings of Four Last Songs and highlights from Arabella, the latter appearing complete on compact disc for the first time. The radiant manner in which Schwarzkopf sings the closing scene from Arabella is justly famous. In 1956 The Record Guide described the original LP release as “one of the most beautifully performed and recorded discs of German opera to appear for many years”, with Schwarzkopf “at the very top of her form, caressing her words with an art that recalls Lotte Lehmann”.