Customer Reviews

Liederabend - Mozart, Wolf, Schubert, Schumann, Wolf-Ferrari

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
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She practised, fretted, and re-recorded for her performances for EMI produced by her husband until the Voice became fettered. To her, and many of her listeners, they were perfect: each word modulated, dissected. To others, they were not: "mannered and arche" were often used to describe her performance by her haters.

This recording of a live performance is a treasure. Her voice fresh and a sense of spontaniety. Even her critics would yield to her this one time.

Then try Schwarzkopf. She is soothing. She was the one who made Furtwangler forsake his baton for a moment, sitting fairly and squarely at the piano when she sang; she was the one who caught, strangely enough, even the ears and admiration of the loneliest musician of the century, Glenn Gould.

The recording is very nice and the equilibrium between the piano and the singer is superb. And Schwarzkopf was obviously still at her best. Well, if Callas is more dramatic, Schwarzkopf is more lyrical.

My only grumble for this record is the thundering big applause from the audience of this recital. But look at the price, it's a real bargain whichever way you look at it.

This seems to be discontinued but still available through Amazon sellers. It's a great recital, given in Italy in the late 60's with Geoffrey Parsons at the piano. The sound is quite good- better than her early 50s EMI recordings- but watch out for audience applause which can be quite jarring, especially if you're wearing headphones.
Schwarzkopf's voice is darker and her singing is more emotive here than her studio lieder recordings, which are now on Great Recordings of the Century. There really is no reason to hesitate buying this, that is unless you do all your music listening with headphones.