Customer Reviews

Autumn Journey & A Franz Schubert Recital (2pc) [VHS]

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"Autumn Journey" is a portrait, not a biography, and it is mostly told in Fischer-Dieskau's own words (and his voice-- he does the English voiceover), as well as in photographs, and a vast amount of performance and rehearsal footage that spans F-D's nearly 50-year career as a musician, much of it entirely new to people outside of Germany. Although I have been a FiDi fan for more than 30 years, at least half of the material in "Autumn Journey" consisted of things I had never seen. I especially treasure the little clips of F-D rehearsing "Geheimes" with Gerald Moore and Bach's Cantata 82 with Karl Richter and looking as if he were really enjoying what he was doing. And then there's F-D performing "Erlkoenig" with Gerald Moore and singing the final section of Britten "War Requiem": "I am the enemy you killed, my friend." Or FiDi as Falstaff, improbable as it always seems, or rehearsing for "Il Tabarro" with Julia Varady and looking about as in love as anyone could look. There are also scenes of him teaching and conducting, not to mention coaching Julia Varady in an aria from "Il Ballo in Maschera." And for anyone who has not had the chance to see F-D off the stage and out of costume and makeup, the interview portions provide the opportunity to hear his speaking voice, watch his expressions and gestures, and try to understand what made him such a master communicator on the stage. The accompanying concert video is from very late in F-D's career, and despite the obvious vocal decline, it is a valuable document of the performance style of a master singer.