But instead of relishing an artist's springtime with a proper, thankful mindfulness, it was tempting to instead think ahead to her autumn, to "the mellow fruitfulness of the mature interpreter, the ripeness of art that knows all shades of expression, from the most playful to the most profound".

[1] In the first item on Frederica von Stade's recital, for example, Dowland's "Come again, sweet love doth now invite", her singing seemed "placidly hymn-like, wanting sharpness of flavour (and sometimes of consonant too)" when one remembered the "exceptionally strong projection and rhythmic vitality" that Janet Baker had brought to the song when she had recorded it with Gerald Moore.

[9] It was true, too that the young Martin Katz's edition of Purcell's "The Blessed Virgin's expostulation" was not as imaginative in its dynamics as Benjamin Britten's, and that von Stade's tempo in its recitative had "a rather square regularity" about it.

On the B side of her disc, Debussy's Chansons de Bilitis had "the most winning femininity, 'La chevelure' drawing from the singer a richer, more sensual tone, while a new darkness colours the satyrs' obituary".

And a modest, contemporary American song, dedicated to the four-day-old "Jenny Rebecca", "serves as an encore piece, allowing the voice to settle and linger graciously in the mind".

Her unfailing taste, secure technique and musicianship and exquisitely pure tone – beguilingly warm and youthfully fresh at the same time – may all be counted among the blessings of our musical life".

Calling it an exquisitely sung must-have, he wrote that "[it] finds [von Stade] in rich, amazingly pure voice, poignantly expressive in several disparate idioms encompassing Dowland, Purcell and Debussy, plus three ravishing Liszt selections, including the all-time loveliest version of 'Oh!

Although the disc had had only limited success in conveying the full character that he knew von Stade to possess, he wrote, he delighted in the fresh bloom on her voice and found that the LP was one that he returned to.

[1][15] In the US, Columbia released it on 3 January 1979 (with catalogue numbers M-35127 for their LP and MT-35127 for their cassette)[11] The vinyl editions had sleeve notes by Robert Jacobson and an insert with texts and translations.

[2] Although excerpts from the album appeared on compilation CDs, it was not issued on silver disc in its entirety until 2012, when Newton Classics included it with a 16-page biographical booklet by David Patrick Stearns in their 4-CD collection Frederica von Stade: Duets, Arias, Scenes & Songs (catalogue number 8802125).