NCH, Dublin

Performers at the ends of their careers face a dilemma. Should they present audiences with what they’re most famous for? Or should they stick to what they handle best, given the wear and tear of time? This is a much bigger issue for singers than for instrumentalists, and at the National Concert Hall American mezzo soprano Frederica von Stade, aged 64 and currently on a worldwide farewell tour, solved the conundrum by offering a bit of everything, all carefully wrapped and introduced as a narrative of her life and career.

She opened with Ned Rorem's I Am Rose(because of her rosy mouth as a newborn), included songs with connections to Greece (where she once lived), followed on with Virgil Thomson's Prayer to St Catherine(evoking memories of a convent school education), included Poulenc (for her days in Paris), Herbert Hughes (remembering Ireland, where her mother spent the happiest decades of her life), and wittily offered Mahler's Lob des hohen Verstandes(telling of an ass judging a singing competition, and favouring the cuckoo over the nightingale) when she came to the moment of her audition for the Metropolitan Opera in New York, where they did rather better than the ass – she got the role.

It was a whimsical, wistful evening, and sometimes more enjoyable for the cunning and artistry of the unassumingly assertive presentation than for the actual singing itself, which fluctuated a lot in delivery and finish. There were, it has to be said, moments when the voice simply would not do exactly what it was bid. But there were also others – particularly in the French arias by Massenet ( Va, laisse couler mes larmes) and Thomas (Me voici dans son boudoir) – where the radiance and richness of old were clearly to be felt. And it's not every singer who gets to sing songs – von Stade included two by Jake Heggie – for which she herself has provided the words. Von Stade is one of those singers who will always be remembered with especial fondness.