Customer Reviews

Schumann: Dichterliebe / Wunderlich, Giesen

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If you buy one lieder CD this year, buy this CD! Fritz Wunderlich possesses one of the most beautiful voices on record. It is well-preserved on this disc. The Dichterliebe are unbelievable. Listen especially to the emotion on "Ich grolle nicht," for example. There are very few "definitive" lieder recordings--this is one of mine. A definite desert island disc!

Fritz Wunderlich sings with a truly marvelous voice and an impeccable diction. His short life (he died at age 36, however, certainly did not allow him to reach full musical maturity in some of his interpretations. His youthful voice suits the Beethoven songs the best-`Adelaide' stands among the best I have ever heard in recording. His version of Dichterliebe, although also extremely musical and equally moving, lacks of a bit of the detail and subtlety we find in, for example, the Fischer-Dieskau recordings-arguably among the best. We must consider that Wunderlich, contrary to Fischer Dieskau for instance, sings most of these pieces in its original key, which also makes the experience of listening to this CD one of the best ever. This recording gives me the impression that Wunderlich's voice would surpass any other Beethoven, Schubert or Schumann could have ever dreamt of!

The cycle of the Poet's love is most probably the greatest and most difficult one to interpret. Each melody is asking from the singer and the pianist equal amount of musical imagination (as later on with Hugo wolf cycles.) Here, Wunderlich sings with such subtleties that it seems as natural as he would speak or read out loud. The words are integrated into the music and the accents help the listener to follow the music and the poems as a whole story instead of considering each melody as a seperate entity. These accents are not cold but beautifully musical sustained by H. Giesen at the piano. His warm voice is an enormous plus in this version and each sound is in place, like breathing is a necessity.

You say that song recitals bore you? This magnificent disc will change your mind. Germanic reverence for the lied can be sooooo dull, but Wunderlich has emotional understanding, and intelligence mixed with expressiveness. Cap this with a voice of unparalleled beauty (his high notes will leave you gasping for breath) and you have a recital that makes art-song-haters wonder what they have been missing. An ESSENTIAL disc at a bargain price!

there's something special in his voice. whenever i listen to his songs, i feel as if his voice has some healing power for a wounded & tired soul and heart. i've listen to this CD for more than 10 years. still it is one of my favorites.

Hardly anyone I talk to has even heard of Fritz Wunderlich, and that's sad. His interpretation of these wonderful Lieder by Schumann, Schubert, and Beethoven is simply one of the best out there - right up there with Fischer-Dieskau and Ameling. His range of expression is as impressive as his technique, bringing something unique to each of the songs on this recording and on his recording of "Die Schoene Muellerin." To quote the music history professor who introduced me to his work, "I think Fritz Wunderlich really 'got it.'" Anyone who can make "Adelaide" seem profound even after countless recordings is someone worth listening to.

Buy this CD.

From the start, with Giesen's sublime "Im Wunderschönen Monat Mai" intro, to the last track, Fritz Wunderlich's effortless and expressive tenor is a true pleasure throughout.

A pity that Herr Wunderlich's career was tragically cut short. I should have liked to hear more.

This album got me hooked into German lieder. I listen to it on a daily basis, and have clocked well over 200 repeat listens! Surprising for a person who used to hate any form of singing in classical music, right?

Well blame it on this album for getting me hooked. The first song is heart achingly beautiful - gushing out feelings of unrequited love. Wunderlich manages to get this emotion just right where other singers have all failed. In Ich Grolle Nicht, Wunderlich sings with such earth shattering climatic passion (sounds highly sexual, so forgive me!) and it gets me every time. in Ich Will meine Seele Tauchen, Wunderlich sings with powerfully desperate longing.

Overall, Wunderlich's soft yet masculine voice really contributes to the overall success of this album. If you hate German lieder, give this album a go (along with libretto).

Somewhere in purgatory Herbert Giesen is taking piano lessons while imps prick him with pitchforks. I can't think of a more irksome sin than his pallid, mechanical accompaniments to this classic recording. If Wunderlich had lived, no doubt he would have been paired with any number of DG's house pianists (Erik Werba, Jorg Demus, perhaps Gerald Moore or Christoph Eschenbach, who played for Fischer-Dieskau), none of them stellar but all a world better than Giesen. I mention this lamentable flaw first because time never again brought us a voice as honeyed as Wunderlich's, as naturally musical and spontaneous in lieder. Listen to him effortlessly turn one of Dictherliebe's most treacherous songs, "Ich grolle nicht," into a passionate outpouring that creates a single emotional arc from beginning to end. Yet as that vocal marvel is being unfolded, you can't ignore the thump-diddle-diddle of the piano.

Wunderlich needed a better accompanist for another reason -- guidance. Critics complained at the time that the singer wasn't probing deeply enough into the texts, relying too much on his superlative voice and not enough on his intellect. I can't assess if the charge is fair or not, given that Wunderlich's apparent effortlessness probably hid a good deal of study and discipline. There must be a reason why he sings certain songs at the exact same timing in this studio recording and the live accoun that can be found on "private" labels. The Beethoven and Schubert selections on this disc offer the same glories and disappointments as the Dichterliebe.

When all is said and dne, however, this remains as indispensable CD, one that hasn't been out of my hands since I first heard it on LP in the Sixties. The "Originals" remastering adds a touch more warmth but is otherwise no great improvement over previous issues, which were in good sound already.

The best endorsement possible for this performance is that it is apparently what Juan Diego Florez has on his ipod to listen to during long plane trips. If it is that appreciated by Florez, it has to be marvelous.