Wolf: Spanish Songbook

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (Performer), Hugo [Composer] Wolf (Composer), Gerald Moore (Performer), Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Gerald Moore, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
• Composer: Hugo [Composer] Wolf
• Audio CD (February 10, 1998)
• SPARS Code: ADD
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Deutsche Grammophon
• ASIN: B000001H04
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #293,814 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Spanisches Liederbuch, nach Heyse und Geibel, for voice & piano: Nun bin ich dein

2. Spanisches Liederbuch, nach Heyse und Geibel, for voice & piano: Die du Gott gebarst, du Reine

3. Spanisches Liederbuch, nach Heyse und Geibel, for voice & piano: Nun wandre, Maria

4. Spanisches Liederbuch, nach Heyse und Geibel, for voice & piano: Die ihr schwebet

5. Spanisches Liederbuch, nach Heyse und Geibel, for voice & piano: Führ mich, Kind, nach Bethlehem

6. Spanisches Liederbuch, nach Heyse und Geibel, for voice & piano: Ach, des Knaben Augen sind

7. Spanisches Liederbuch, nach Heyse und Geibel, for voice & piano: Mühvoll komm ich und beladen

8. Spanisches Liederbuch, nach Heyse und Geibel, for voice & piano: Ach, wie lang die Seele schlummert

9. Spanisches Liederbuch, nach Heyse und Geibel, for voice & piano: Herr, was trägt der Boden hier

10. Spanisches Liederbuch, nach Heyse und Geibel, for voice & piano: Wunden trägst du, mein Geliebter

See all 21 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Spanisches Liederbuch, nach Heyse und Geibel, for voice & piano: Sagt, seid Ihr es, feiner Herr

2. Spanisches Liederbuch, nach Heyse und Geibel, for voice & piano: Mögen alle bösen Zungen

3. Spanisches Liederbuch, nach Heyse und Geibel, for voice & piano: Köpfchen, Köpfchen, nicht gewimmert

4. Spanisches Liederbuch, nach Heyse und Geibel, for voice & piano: Sagt ihm, daß er zu mir komme

5. Spanisches Liederbuch, nach Heyse und Geibel, for voice & piano: Bitt' ihn, o Mutter

6. Spanisches Liederbuch, nach Heyse und Geibel, for voice & piano: Liebe mir im Busen zündet

7. Spanisches Liederbuch, nach Heyse und Geibel, for voice & piano: Schmerzliche Wonnen und wonnige Schmerzen

8. Spanisches Liederbuch, nach Heyse und Geibel, for voice & piano: Trau' nicht der Liebe

9. Spanisches Liederbuch, nach Heyse und Geibel, for voice & piano: Ach, im Maien Wars, im Maien

10. Spanisches Liederbuch, nach Heyse und Geibel, for voice & piano: Alle gingen, Herz, zur Ruh

See all 22 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The lied's greatest exponent., August 26, 2000

By 

Augustus Caesar, Ph.D. (Eugene, Oregon United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wolf: Spanish Songbook (Audio CD)

Hugo Wolf, who died raving mad in an asylum in 1903, was a singular figure on the Vienna music scene during his short life: composer of one opera, legendary bohemian, the most notorious music critic of his time and also, incidentally, the greatest composer of lieder (art songs) who ever lived. This magnificent reissue of his "Spanisches Liederbuch" is not only a must have for any lover of lieder, but also a tremedous value. Elisabeth Schwartzkopf and Dietrech Fischer-Dieskau sing these songs with sensitivity, emotion and the astonishing control that can only come from a deep knowledge of their material. For me, though, the highlight of these disks is the keyboard work of Gerald Moore, who plays Wolf's songs with grace, finesse, precision and delicacy. A true pianistic artist. This is some of the greatest music ever written, brilliantly performed, and at a more than reasonable price. Highly recommended.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars TAKE US TO YOUR LIEDER, April 25, 2005

By 

DAVID BRYSON (Glossop Derbyshire England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wolf: Spanish Songbook (Audio CD)

This 2-cd set comes as part of the DG Originals series of reissues `now reproduced' DG tell us `with unprecedented fidelity'. Well, they would say that, wouldn't they? Precedented or not, the recorded sound is perfectly good if slightly unstartling. The original recording dates from 1967, when Fischer-Dieskau was still somewhere near the height of his powers, and Schwarzkopf perhaps just a little past the height of hers. The recital also commemorates the very special artistry of Gerald Moore. Purely as a technical executant he may not have been quite the equal of some of today's accompanists such as Roger Vignoles or Graham Johnson, but his sheer tact and sensitivity are probably still unrivalled.

Schwarzkopf has told us that for her Wolf is the `greatest' of the Lieder-writers, and that may be so for all such an expression conveys to me. To my ears, Wolf's songs are great music and great and profound art. What I find difficult to envisage is anyone loving these songs in the way we love those of Schubert, Schumann and Wolf's own pet hate Brahms. Wolf was also a musical critic, a prominent and outstandingly raucous adherent of Wagner's new musical era. A glance at the man's photograph, the head and features handsome but the expression hunted, haunted and obsessed, is enough to create alarm. He died early and insane, a victim of syphilis, but the style of his songs is highly intellectual. They don't remind me of Wagner in the least, and although he often used a flexible and non-lyrical vocal idiom he had a certain amount of melodic talent when he cared to show it, as in the first few of the `secular' songs that make up the majority of the Spanish Songbook. He was an ultra-craftsman, both in his innovative vocal writing and in his outstandingly original and resourceful piano accompaniments. It's the craftsmanship that makes the greatest impact on me, and I shouldn't wonder if that were not also what specially appealed to Schwarzkopf.

Wolf's way of working was to focus on one poet at a time to the exclusion of others. The Spanish songbook takes a set of translations, by Emanuel Giebel and Paul Heyse, of 16th and 17th century Spanish folk-poetry. The first 10 of these are to religious texts, the remaining 34 to secular - all songs about love, mainly unrequited but not always, particularly not in the last song of all. The religious songs are more demanding on the listener than the secular numbers, many of which have attractive melodies of a comparatively traditional kind and highly ingenious and engaging guitar-effects in their accompaniments. In general, the Spanish Songbook is easier to come to terms with than its slightly austere Italian counterpart.

The artistry and intellectual penetration shown by Fischer-Dieskau and Schwarzkopf are of the highest order, exactly as one would expect. Spontaneity is not the keynote, but we should not expect that - this is Wolf, not Schubert. Every detail is carefully crafted, and Moore is completely admirable in his handling of the varied piano effects and in his perfect sense of how to balance the piano writing, more partnership than accompaniment, with the singers. Schwarzkopf's voice by this stage has lost some of its youth, but she remains a great artist and a great interpreter of this composer, and the recording happily does not attempt any artificial enhancements.

Texts are of course given in full with English translations by the admirable Lionel Salter. The liner-note by Alan Blyth is slightly tiresome with its incessant message of how marvellous the music is and how perfectly the singers deal with it, but it contains some useful background material. For me, this is an outstanding issue and a welcome addition to my collection of the work of three great musicians. For cautious newcomers to Wolf I'd suggest trying `The Fire-rider' from his Moerike songs to hear just how marvellous he can be. As a next step, this set of the Spanish Songbook would be as good as I can suggest.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A recording to appeal to the heart, the mind and the soul, June 28, 2007

By 

Ingrid Heyn "No man is an Iland, intire of it... (Melbourne, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wolf: Spanish Songbook (Audio CD)

I am an adorer of the music of Hugo Wolf - his songs are, for me, far more appealing personally than the songs of any other Lieder composer. Perhaps that is for several reasons: his taste in poetry was superb (except when he chose a libretto for his opera - and I think we can blame his increasing mental health situation (syphilis) for that); his use of harmonic unexpectedness deeply appeals to me; his interweaving of the piano and voice is wonderfully powerful; and of all the Lieder composers, his music most repays an intensely intellectual approach that is at the same time highly emotional.

There's a quite extraordinary quality of sensuousness in much of the songs in this Spanisches Liederbuch - think of "In dem Schatten meiner Locken" and "Bedeckt mich mit Blumen", for instance. To properly infuse the text with meaning and beauty, the singer is (in my opinion) required to know the timbre and colour of each word in each phrase, to be master of the song's phrases, pauses, smiles, sighs. I know there are some who feel that Schwarzkopf and Fischer-Dieskau are not "spontaneous", but great art does not require spontaneity - it requires greatness of talent and the communication of meaning. If you love the detail and fine brush-strokes that make what in my opinion is the mastery of miniature in song, you will fall in love with this recording.

I was captivated by the unique ability of Schwarzkopf to put her emotions into her voice, and to do this in such a way that it illuminated every phrase. Fischer-Dieskau is no less superb - he is without question a master of the Lied, and his beautifully phrased voice is the highest example of intellect in vocal music. Both Schwarzkopf and Fischer-Dieskau are also native German singers, and their German is immaculate. Their understanding AND communication of the song texts is unmatched.

Recommended in the highest degree.