Customer Reviews

DIETRICH FISCHER-DIESKAU Early Recordings on Deutsche Grammophon

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Reviewing this multi-disc set, the Gramophone'w riter notes that he, and many other listeners, own lots of Fischer-Dieskau recordings but rarely play them. That can happen when a singer enjoys a career over five decades and dozens of LPs and CDs. Literally F-D was always around from the day I was born until almost yesterday. But one encounter with F-D's inredible techical command and emotional directness from his early years makes it evident again what a genius he is. The Fifties found him in greatest voice and almost completely devoid of his later mannerisms. Almost nothing here is barked out or feels blustery and overdone.

Much of this material was later redone in stereo but never bettered. It's a small drawback that the sound is mono and the accomanists (especially the pallid Jorg Demus) not as bold as they might be; it's a huge drawback that DG provides no texts. For every familiar item like Schumann's Dichteliebe, there are batches of Wolf that not everone will own a second version of. Not to mention new items byy modern composers like Henze. The opera excerpts of Gluck in German, not to mention Verdi, are disconcerting. All that aside, anyone who happpens to invest in this hefty set will be richly rewarded.

Grab this while you can. It may be decades before DG releases these recordings again. Classic recordings of a great artist sorely missed.