Customer Reviews

Franz Schubert: Lieder, Vol. 2

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Since this set of Schubert lieder (3 boxes, 21 cds in all) has become a legedary classic, I don't think I should make any comment. But just a suggestion to those who want to embark on these discs. Make up your mind on this journey. On facing such a tome record arranged and sung chronically, it's useless and wrong only to listen to some famous lieder or discs or just listen randomly. You should spare a long period of time, begin by listening from the very first disc to the last disc. And, during the period do not listen to any lied of other composers. Then gradually, lied by lied, disc by disc, you will forget this is Fischer-Diskau and Moore---This is a real life of a great soul! You are really touching and breathing with a great soul! Feel the sound of schubert, feel his struggle, his emotion, his feeling, his hate and love. Feel how those youthful spontaneous and raw lieder gradually developed into fully ripened masterpieces. Such wonderful experience belongs only to really patient listeners.

It took me about 2 full weeks to listen to the whole 21 discs. Fischer-Diskau and Moore chose the "Abschied(Farewell)" to be the last lieder read (this song happened to be the only lied of Schubert to be recite with piano accompaniment, and which was composed during his final years). Thus the whole hundreds of lieder, or the whole life of Schubert, ended on this lied, farewell to the earth. It began with "Leb wohl, du schoene Erde (Goodbye, you beautiful Earth)". I will forever remember when I finally came into this lied, on the first words of Diskau's "Leb wohl, du schoene Erde" I trembled and cried from the very first note to the last note. My god, it's untouchable granduer.

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (born 1925) is considered by many to be the foremost authority on Schubert Lieder for the male voice in our time. He likely made more recordings of this area of music than any other singer, having not only this 9 disc set, but another 9 disc set (Volume 1) for DG, the three complete song cycles: "Schwanengesang", "Die Schone Mullerin" and "Winterreise" (DG, Volume 3 of Fischer-Dieskau's Lieder edition), plus a 6 disc set of Schubert Lieder for EMI, also with Gerald Moore. Figure in the earlier recordings from the late 1940s, and live recitals on such labels as Orfeo, and there are ALOT of Fischer-Dieskau Schubert lieder recordings available.

Critics of vocal recitals and lieder may have other opinions, but I think this is as fine a collection as any. I keep this, like Volume 1, to be able to refer to a given song, not to listen to disc after disc of Schubert Lieder in one sitting, even though all are delightful works. Fischer-Dieskau manages to make Schubert's simple, strophic songs sound like great masterpieces, perhaps greater than they really are. And pianist Gerald Moore is an excellent partner: Moore and Fischer-Dieskau work as one, in perfect sync.

Keep in mind these are all songs for male voice, and not the complete Schubert songs. DG should be commended for releasing these recordings on CD and keeping them before the public. If you are really a Schubert completist, consider also the complete Hyperion Schubert Edition, with Graham Johnson, piano, and singers such as Lucia Popp, Peter Schreier, Janet Baker, Stephen Varcoe, Maragaret Price, Ian Bostridge, Martyn Hill singing all the 700+ songs Schubert composed in his short lifetime (1797-1828; Schubert's first lieder were composed about 1815). (The Hyperion Schubert edition is available in Great Britain for about $250 for 40 discs, if you cannot find it in the US).

For further comment, please see my remarks for DG, Volume 1 of Schubert Lieder by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.

Indudablemente, si de Lieder vamos hablar, los de Schubert son LA BIBLIA en la materia. Ningún otro compositor por más bueno que sea, llega acercarse a la belleza de los Lieder de Franz Peter Schubert, entre ellos me refiero concretamente a ilustres compositores como: Beethoven, Schumann, Wolf, Mussorsgky, Tchaikovsky, y Richard Strauss.

Si tendríamos que definir con una sola palabra a estos Lieder está con seguridad sería "MELANCOLIA". Las canciones de Schubert son tan hermosas como las rosas del jardín, pero tienen como ésa flor, espinas, pues para personas de sensibilidad artística, generalmente cuando los escuchamos terminamos con un nudo en la garganta sino con lágrimas en los ojos.

Sin lugar a dudas, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau es el interprete ideal. El timbre de su voz, así como la calidez de sus interpretaciones, son la combinación perfecta para estas magnas obras. Amigo de la música éste álbum realmente vale la pena, a pesar que es un poco caro, hay que hacer el esfuerzo para no perderse las maravillas que tienen éstos Lieder interpretados por su mejor exponente. Es una de las grabaciones más memorables del Siglo XX. (Mi lieder más amado es Auf Dem Wasser Zu Singen).