MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


CD REVIEW

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

Not available in the USA

CD: Crotchet
Download: Classicsonline

 

Gustav MAHLER (1860–1911)
Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen [18:17]
1. Wenn mein Schatz Hochzeit macht [4:18]
2. Ging heut’ Morgen übers Feld [4:46]
3. Ich hab’ ein glühend Messer [3:30]
4. Die zwei blauen Augen [5:42]
Kindertotenlieder [24:31]
5. Nun will die Sonn’ so hell aufgeh’n [5:20]
6. Nun seh’ ich wohl, warum so dunkle Flammen [4:50]
7. Wenn dein Mütterlein [4:33]
8. Oft denk’ ich, sie sind nur ausgegangen [3:05]
9. In diesem Wetter, in diesem Braus [6:43]
Robert SCHUMANN (1810–1856)
Liederkreis, Op. 39 [26:31]
10. No. 1. In der Fremde [2:15]
11. No. 2. Intermezzo [1:52]
12. No. 3. Waldesgespräch [2:10]
13. No. 4. Die Stille [1:32]
14. No. 5. Mondnacht [3:48]
15. No. 6. Schöne Fremde [1:26]
16. No. 7. Auf einer Burg [3:14]
17. No. 8. In der Fremde [1:33]
18. No. 9. Wehmut [2:30]
19. No. 10. Zwielicht [3:20]
20. No. 11. Im Walde [1:29]
21. No. 12. Frühlingsnacht [1:19]
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (baritone); Philharmonia Orchestra/Wilhelm Furtwängler (1-4); Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra/Rudolf Kempe (5-9); Gerald Moore (piano) (10-21)
rec. Kingsway Hall, London, 24-25 June, 1952 (1-4), Jesus-Christus-Kirche, Berlin, 20-21 June 1955 (5-9), EMI Abbey Road Studio 3, London, 10 March 1954
Reissue Producer and Audio Restoration Engineer: Mark Obert-Thorn
NAXOS HISTORICAL 8.111300
[69:19]

 

Experience Classicsonline


So much has been written about these classic recordings since they were first issued more than a half-century ago that there is very little to add. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau was the great sensation in the field of Lieder when he appeared shortly after the war. He set new standards in detailed nuance, word-painting, expressiveness and identification – all paired with a voice of immense beauty and power. He went on for four decades, eagerly expanding his repertoire which also encompassed opera and the big choral masterpieces. He even took up conducting – while repeatedly returning to certain works, including the present three, finding new expressions, new insights. Like all great artists he had his detractors, the main criticism being that he sometimes was too explicit and over-emphatic and also, particularly in the field of opera, that he took on repertoire that didn’t suit him.

I have for many years had his remakes for DG of these three song cycles: Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen with Rafael Kubelik, Kindertotenlieder with Karl Böhm, both in the 1960s, and Schumann’s Liederkreis a decade later with Christoph Eschenbach at the piano. They are marvellous readings from a mature artist still at the height of his powers. Few singers have equalled them, let alone surpassed them. Still it is a special treat to hear him in his early blossoming, not yet thirty – well, Kindertotenlieder were actually recorded three weeks after his thirtieth birthday. And he had such a sappy voice and a superb lightness of touch, qualities that he retained marvellously intact until late in his career though inevitably one can detect a degree more effort in later years.

My intention when I started working on this issue was to just sample it in order to refresh my memory, but already in the first bars of Wenn mein Schatz … I was hooked and ended up playing every second of the disc – and then I started anew… There is such magic about the whole Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, further enhanced by Furtwängler’s conducting, that one gets the feeling that F-D, there and then in Kingsway Hall discovered the songs and was totally overwhelmed by their inherent beauty and emotion.

It is also extraordinary to hear, especially in Kindertotenlieder, how his light and tenoral voice transforms into a black bass-baritone, capable of expressing all the grief and despair of these bleak songs. Rudolf Kempe and the Berliner Philharmoniker give him all the support needed.

The recorded sound has stood the test of time, which isn’t quite the case with the Schumann cycle – or this was my first impression. I listened through headphones and the first chords sounded dim and distant. However, out of the mist emerged F-D with realistic clarity. Apart from some distortion (tr. 12), the sound was good enough to do justice to the music and the music-making, providing one turns up the volume. Again it is the youthful freshness of the singing that impresses and I believe that if these had been his only surviving recordings, they would have been more than enough to give him a front rank position in the annals of singing. Such exquisite legato singing is something most other singers could only dream of accomplishing. His collaboration with Gerald Moore was always fruitful and this recording is no exception.

Readers who lack these recordings should immediately rectify this want, now that they are available at budget price. I also look forward to further explorations of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau’s early catalogue. There are riches aplenty.

Göran Forsling 

see also Review by Julie Williams 

 





 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.