To celebrate the 80th birthday of the great Australian mezzo-soprano Yvonne Minton, Eloquence has reissued her 1970s recordings of Mahler with Georg Solti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The song cycle Lieder eines Fahrenden Gesellen and four songs from Des Knaben Wunderhorn first appeared as fillers to Solti’s discs of the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies. Minton’s strong, pure mezzo voice is a delight to hear, both here and in the less frequently reissued Das Lied von der Erde, where the closing section of the final Der Abschied is totally convincing. Her tenor partner in that work is René Kollo, who divided critics at the time. I have always enjoyed Kollo’s singing. He may lack Wunderlich’s tonal allure, but who doesn’t?

Yvonne Minton as Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier

An Eloquence release collects the 1959/60 Philips recordings of Jean Fournet conducting Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw Orchestra (yet to become “Royal”). Fournet (1913-2008) was a French music specialist, and...