Customer Reviews

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau Sings Bach & Brahms

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These performances would be self-recommending, even if they hadn't been re-engineered using modern technology. The two Bach cantatas ('Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen' BWV 56 and 'Ich habe genug' BWV 82) were recorded in 1951 in the the Jesus-Christus-Kirche in the American sector of post-war Berlin, with Karl Ristenpart conducting the RIAS Kammerorchester. This was part of Ristenpart's pioneering effort to record all the cantatas, and although they are not informed by modern performance practice knowledge, they also do not use the bloated full-orchestra sound that we have gotten away from. As for Fischer-Dieskau's contribution, one can only say that this was the young -- in his mid-twenties -- FiDi in glorious voice. 'Schlummert ein' from the latter cantata is sung in a soft, perfectly controlled, almost crooning tone that, although it does not quite equal the very recent extraordinary recording by Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, deserves to be heard and treasured. The two Bach works are for solo voice (except for the final Chorale,'Komm, o Tod, du Schlafes Bruder' in BWV 56, sung wonderfully by the Berliner Motettenchor) and thus are almost entirely FiDi's show.

The Brahms 'Vier Ernste Gesänge' are accompanied by pianist Herta Klust, a well-known accompanist in her day who is remembered for accompanying FiDi in a Beethoven program recorded a few years later. The recording is not quite as startlingly modern-sounding, largely because it is harder to update the sound of a piano as recorded in 1950. But the full richness of FiDi's voice is there, and completely satisfying. He communicates the meaning of the biblical texts with simplicity and fervor. My favorite recent recording of these songs is by Thomas Quasthoff, but on every account FiDi conveys the text with greater immediacy.

If you love the artistry of Fischer-Dieskau -- and I have to suppose there are a few who don't -- you owe it to yourself to get this CD. And I am thankful that Günter Hänssler's new label, Profil, has seen fit to reissue this program, formerly on Deutsche Grammophon LP; I don't recall that it has ever been released on CD.

Scott Morrison