Wolf: Lieder [Import]

Hugo [Composer] Wolf (Composer), Wilhelm Furtwängler (Performer), Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Wilhelm Furtwängler, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
• Composer: Hugo [Composer] Wolf
• Audio CD (March 13, 2001)
• SPARS Code: ADD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: EMI Classics France
• ASIN: B000055Y1S
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #149,090 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #64 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Featured Performers, A-Z > Q to T
  • #81 in Music > Classical > Forms & Genres > Lullabies & Berceuse

Editorial Reviews

From International Record Review - subscribe now

This disc commemorates, enshrines (though that is too mortal-sounding a word) a unique and extraordinary occasion: as Walter Legge points out in his shrewd notes, the Salzburg Festival had no regular tradition of Lieder recitals when this one was planned. Wolf was perhaps closer to his and Schwarzkopf's hearts than any other Lieder composer, so they decided on the recital without having chosen an accompanist. At dinner in Turin in December 1952 (Legge wrongly places it early in 1953) Furtwangler asked Schwarzkopf if he could accompany her, and she incredulously accepted. They rehearsed prodigiously, and the Furtwangler-determined results are plain for all to hear. He accompanied her with the lid of his Steinway open (to Gerald Moore's rage), and the piano is at least on an equal footing throughout the recital. That, it seems to me, is as it should be, above all in Wolf. And this is the only Wolf-playing we have from Furtwangler, indeed the only piano playing apart from the keyboard role in the Fifth Brandenburg Concerto, also from Salzburg (but in far less good sound) which EMI released last year (reviewed on page 38 of the October 2000 issue). The performances are controversial: the songs are often taken at unusual tempos, but I find them invariably illuminating, and in several songs, such as the great 'Anakreons Grab', quite magical. At times Schwarzkopf has almost to scream to hold her own, and there are places where her characteristic later archness is just beginning to creep in. Yet the ease and conviction with which she adopts to the mood of a fresh song just after closing an intense account of a quite different one is amazing; Furtwangler admittedly sets the tone instantly, with wonderfully judged characterization of the Stimmung, but it must have been a harder job for the singer to, as it were, wipe the smile off her face and adopt a grand tragic posture, or even more, vice versa. The 22 Lieder range widely, and perhaps the funny ones (which I don't ever find all that funny) have received more scintillating treatment elsewhere. The case against most of these readings has been strongly put by Robin Holloway in Song on Record, Volume 1 (edited by Alan Blyth: Cambridge University Press; 1986), where he especially criticizes the slow tempo for the opening song, 'Im Fruhling', as being lumpy. Listen and see what you think – this recital is, at the very least, an educational experience, though I would claim that it is far more than that. Michael Tanner

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Indestructible, eternal performances..solid as granite, February 27, 2002

By 

Manuel Reguillo-Cruz - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wolf: Lieder (Audio CD)

Schwarzkopf is in great form of both voice and charm, and has the extra luxury of Furtwängler as her pianist.

The best thing that ever happened to Hugo Wolf was the very existence of Elisabeth Schwarzkopf. She became his greatest interpreter among women singers as is evident in these recordings. Every vowel is in place, every nuance around the text is made, with more colors in her voice than in a van Gogh canvas.

I keep comparing her Wolf with that of Gerhard, Seefried, della Casa, Ameling, Hamari, Fuchs, Margaret Price. Still Schwarzkopf's Wolf is the most convincing, true, near-to-perfection and obviously in empathy with pianist and composer.
I find a element of intensity in Schwarzkopf that is absent in the others. There is a almost perfect balance between Furtwängler and soprano, with recognition of the importance of the piano part.

Many of those who were fortunate to attend this Liederabend in Salzburg in 1953 said that they could die now after having been in Elysum.

With the texts of Mörike, Goethe, Eichendorff, Calderon de la Barca, etc Schwarzkopf is here a program builder, a one-man show, a memory expert, lover, child, saint, philosopher, patriot, maiden, matron, and she displays her vocal stamina equal to the strenght of an athlete.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Love the spirit, try to ignore the technique, September 23, 2005

By 

Santa Fe Listener (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Wolf: Lieder (Audio CD)

This is a famous recital, long kept out of comerical release by EMI because of its many technical flaws. Schwarzkopf herself complained about Furtwangler's impossibly slow speeds, saying that he simply couldn't play the piano parts. I expected the worst, therefore, but found that musical spirit carried the day. Schwarzkopf is in radiant voice, Furtwangler's stumbles are forgivable, and the so-so mono sound is listenable. A great souvenir of a legendary concert.