‘You sing as if you had written it yourself!’ Jean Cocteau once told Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. This anthology of lieder by Brahms and Schumann is a prime example of the great singer doing just that, mining every nuance of emotion from a song while, at the same time, sounding as spontaneous and free as if he were making it up on the spot. One of the hallmarks of Fischer-Dieskau’s legacy is the ease with which he creates the spell of each individual song, drawing the listener – apparently effortlessly – into the drama created by the words and the music.
Fischer-Dieskau recorded extensively for Deutsche Grammophon, and the bulk of his archive has been mined on CDs. These recordings, however, are rarities. The songs on CD1 appeared only as part of the Fischer-Dieskau edition for his 75th birthday. The Brahms songs on CD2 make their first appearance on CD. And the 1957 recording of Schumann’s Dichterliebe with his long-time pianist Jörg Demus, only appeared as part of Deutsche Grammophon’s centenary edition. CD2 includes the Four Duets, Op. 28 in which Fischer-Dieskau is partnered by an artist not heard enough on records, the contralto Kerstin Meyer.
CD 1
BRAHMS
1-4 Vier ernste Gesänge, Op. 121
5 Sommerabend, Op. 85 No. 1
6 Mondenschein, Op. 85 No. 2
7 Es liebt sich so lieblich in Lenze, Op. 71 No. 1
8 Meerfahrt, Op. 96 No. 4
9 Es schauen die Blumen all, Op. 96 No. 3
10 Der Tod, das ist die kühle Nacht, Op. 96 No. 1
11 Mit vierzig Jahren, Op. 94 No. 1
12 Steig auf, geliebter Schatten, Op. 94 No. 2
13 Mein Herz ist schwer, Op. 94 No. 3
14 Kein Haus, keine Heimat, Op. 94 No. 5
15 Herbstgefühl, Op. 48 No. 7
Alte Liebe, Op. 72 No. 1
17 Abenddämmerung, Op. 49 No. 5
18 Heimweh II, Op. 63 No. 8
19 Auf dem Kirchhofe, Op. 105 No. 4
20 Verzagen, Op. 72 No. 4
21 Regenlied, Op. 59 No. 3
22 Nachklang, Op. 59 No. 4
23 Frühlingslied, Op. 85 No. 5
24 Auf dem See, Op. 59 No. 2
25 Feldeinsamkeit, Op. 86 No. 2
CD 2
1 An eine Aeolsharfe, Op. 19 No. 5
2 Der Frühling, Op. 6 No. 2
3 Wie die Wolke nach der Sonne, Op. 6 No. 5
4 Treue Liebe, Op.7 No. 1
5 Heimkehr, Op. 7 No. 6
6 Juche!, Op. 6 No. 4
7 Nachwirkung, Op. 6 No. 3
8 Mondnacht
9 Ein Sonnett, Op. 14 No. 4
10 Ständchen, Op. 14 No. 7
11 Vor dem Fenster, Op. 14 No. 1
12 Scheiden und Meiden, Op. 19 No. 2
13 Gang zur Liebsten, Op. 14 No. 6
14 Von verwundeten Knaben, Op. 14 No. 2
15 Murrays Ermordung, Op. 14 No. 3
16 Sehnsucht, Op. 14 No. 8
17 Volkslied, Op. 7 No. 4
18-21 Vier Duette Op. 28
SCHUMANN
22-37 Dichterliebe, Op. 48
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone
Kerstin Meyer, contralto
Jörg Demus, piano
Recording Producers: Hans Ritter (CD1, Dichterliebe); Rainer Brock, Wolfgang Lohse (CD2: 1-21)
Balance Engineers: Harald Baudis (CD1, Dichterliebe); Hans-Peter Schweigmann (CD2: 1-21)
Recording Locations: Konzerthaus, Hugo-Wolf-Saal, Vienna, Austria, February 1957 (CD1: 5-10, Dichterliebe); Studio Lankwitz, Berlin, Germany, February 1958 (CD1: 11-25), October 1958 (Vier ernste Gesänge); UFA Tonstudio, Berlin, Germany, May 1967 (CD2: 1-21)
‘Fischer-Dieskau is a superb interpreter of the cycle’ (Dichterliebe) Gramophone
‘this is a masterly performance, a towering interpretation of these dark, noble songs’ (Brahms: Four Serious Songs) Gramophone
‘Fischer-Dieskau is splendid in the furious little Hahm setting, Kein Haus, keine Heimat, the shortest of all Brahms’s songs, and gives a ravishing account of Feldeinsamkeit. … [His] performance is clearly among the greatest’ (Brahms) Gramophone