Schubert: Winterreise [Original recording remastered]

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (Performer), Franz [Vienna] Schubert (Composer), Gerald Moore (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Gerald Moore
• Composer: Franz [Vienna] Schubert
• Audio CD (March 23, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: EMI Classics
• ASIN: B0001HAH8W
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #120,895 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #98 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Featured Performers, A-Z > C to G

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Genuine Item!, July 15, 2008

By 

D. DEGEORGE (Ellicott City, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Schubert: Winterreise (Audio CD)

Dietrich-Fischer Dieskau and Gerald Moore recorded Winterreise at least three times, once in 1955 in mono for EMI (Winterreise), again in 1962 in stereo for EMI, and in 1972 for Deutsche Grammophon, when Fischer Dieskau was 30, 38, and 48 years old, respectively. The recording featured under this listing is the middle recording (1962, originally released 1963, and remastered in 2004). Although I have not made an exhaustive survey of critical reviews, I am under the impression that this is the most highly praised of the three recordings Fischer-Dieskau and Moore made together.

I own all three of the above-mentioned recordings, this being my favorite, but only by the slightest of margins over the 1955 recording. In this 1962 recording Fischer-Dieskau and Moore take the songs ever so slightly faster. If there is any significance to this at all, I surmise that the more experienced 38-year-old decided to downplay just a tad the angst of this song cycle and let it speak for itself rather than "milk" it--just a guess. The difference is subtle, but I think that the faster tempos add a touch of tension that well becomes the work; also I hear a greater variety of tone color in this performance.

The fact that this recording is in stereo makes very little difference. The recording engineers have chosen to center both the baritone and the piano, so all that the stereo adds is a bit of recital-hall ambience.

For more notes regarding both this and the 1955 performance, see my review of the other EMI Fischer-Dieskau/Gerald Moore Winterreise; but more importantly look at Robin Friedman's review there--he/she knows what (s)he is talking about, and I suspect that his/her review appears under the wrong listing and actually belongs here (his/her review gives the release date as 1963, which identifies this recording, not the one under which the review appears). If his/her review were here, along with mine, this item would be showing the five stars that it deserves.

1 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Die Winterreise, March 2, 2008

By 

Helmut Wallenfels "wallenh" (La Center, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Schubert: Winterreise (Audio CD)

Not everybody's cup of tea; very tragic Romanticism. Unless, of course, you like the immortal Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.