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Erika Köth: Her Greatest Recordings
Those who witnessed this extraordinary singer performing her roles in ''The Barber of Seville'', Figaro, as Susanna, or Zerlina in Don Giovanni with such evident pleasure, fleet-footedly crossing the entire width of the stage, could not imagine how painfully long Erika Köth had to suffer as a child to achieve this degree of mobility. At the age of eight she was struck down with polio, and spent the next eight years in overcoming its consequences helped by selfdiscipline and a will of iron. The career as a dancer she had dreamed of had to be abandoned, and to enter the theatre she turned instead to singing. Following a solid training she won - together with Christa Ludwig - a vocal competition, organised by Radio Frankfurt, now Hessische Rundfunk, in 1947. For this she had sung one of the most taxing soprano roles of all: ''Queen of the night'' from ''The Magic Flute''. Later it was to become the role with which she would conquer the world's musical centres. She gave in all 278 performances of the part. Works by Mozart and Strauss were for a long time central to her repertoire, but her portrayal of the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor also caused something of a sensation. The recordings presented here reawaken memories of the high points of Erika Köth's artistry. Among these are also her operetta lieder. Lehár's Friederike can hardly have been sung more intimately than by Erika Köth. Here is the refreshing proof of Der Spiegel's comment: ''She was never a soulless vocal technician''. For this reason Erika Köth will always live not only in her listeners' memories but also in their hearts