Reviews J. B. Steane reviewed the album on LP in
Gramophone in June 1982. It was, he thought, an engaging, vivacious recital, but rather like a sandwich that was missing its proper slice of ham. The last track on the A side of the disc was "Tanti affetti" from Rossini's
La donna del lago. It was a climactic end to the first half of the record in that it showed off Frederica von Stade's virtuoso technique, but, although not a shallow composition, it was not the substantial kind of piece that a recitalist should programme before her interval. The B side of the disc began with Maurice Ravel's
Cinq mélodies populaires grecques, "the nearest we come to the provision of a major work". The absence of more ambitious music was not the only reason that the disc felt slightly disappointing. "Good song recitals", Steane wrote, "have some meat, and then... jam!" Nothing in von Stade's album quite supplied the requisite sugar rush. It suffered, too, from being accompanied by a piano instead of by a chorus and orchestra. But there was nothing negative that could be said about her recital's other selections. in 1947 It was refreshing that, as was her wont, she had sought out music that many listeners would be unfamiliar with. Even when choosing from the well-thumbed scores of Italian
arie antiche, she mad managed to find some that few of us would have heard before. And her twentieth-century American songs were "all worth knowing" too. The album was also reviewed in
The complete Penguin stereo record and cassette guide, which described it as "taken from a live recital with von Stade vivacious and characterful in generally lightweight repertory". Its sound quality, the book said, was "kind to the voice and naturally balanced".
Accolade The album was nominated for a
Grammy Award for the best classical solo vocal performance of 1982. ==CD track listing==