WOLF: ITALIENISCHES LIEDERBUCH - FISCHER-DIESKAU, SEEFRIED
WOLF: ITALIENISCHES LIEDERBUCH - FISCHER-DIESKAU, SEEFRIED
FORMAT (CD, LP, DVD?)
FORMAT (CD, LP, DVD?)
‘The most original and artistically consummate of all my works,’ Hugo Wolf said (with justice) of the Italienisches Liederbuch which he wrote in 1890-1 to the poetry of Paul Heyse.
Perhaps no pair of singers on record has interpreted this cycle of 46 songs with such natural accomplishment as Irmgard Seefried and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. They made this recording near the end of the 1950s – at the height of Seefried’s career and near the start of Fischer-Dieskau’s, and its qualities of both freshness and delight in response to the text and vocal beauty have stood the test of time.
The singers performed the cycle together live at the 1958 Salzburg Festival to an ordering devised by the pianist for the occasion and Seefried’s regular accompanist, Erik Werba. In the DG studios a few months later, however, Fischer-Dieskau was joined by his own regular instrumental partner at the time, Jörg Demus. Meanwhile the subtly different responses of both pianists – Werba fuller-toned than Demus, whose pointed articulation owes something to his work on ‘period’ instruments – offer food for both thought and pleasure.
Without attempting to concoct a storyline, Werba’s ordering allows the poetry’s depictions of woman and man to contrast with and complement each other. A spirited opening group is followed by one which is predominantly lyrical, illustrating the need for love, the woman’s surrender and then wavering, a manly longing for death, a farewell, and appeal to sworn fidelity. The closing section juxtaposes a declaration of love, humour, mockery, caricature, resignation and finally boasting, with the soprano’s jubilant ‘confession’ that she has 21 lovers.
All four musicians fully bring to life the emotions of elation, joy, anger and irony in Wolf’s songs. Fischer-Dieskau’s second recording (with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Gerald Moore for EMI) is justly famous in its own right, but the magic of this DG recording lies in the unaffected ease of his partnership with Seefried.
‘The performance is impressive … the very feminine, humorous selections are wonderfully conveyed, and [Seefried’s] work is filled with inspired little touches … [Fischer-Dieskau] brings his customary tonal focus and command of nuance to each song, and carries off the humour every bit as well as the more serious moods.’ High Fidelity, July 1960
‘Both artists [are] near the peak of their forms … a welcome mean between too much sophistication and under-characterization.’ Song on Record, 1986
HUGO WOLF (1860–1903)
Italianisches Liederbuch
Irmgard Seefried, soprano
Erik Werba, piano
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, piano
Jörg Demus, piano
BIG SPRING CLEARANCE SALE
-
A Treasury of English Keyboard Music - Gerald Gifford
Regular price €4,95 EURRegular priceUnit price / per -
AMERICAN CLARINET (Reich: New York Counterpoint; Carter: Clarinet Concerto; Adams: Gnarly Buttons; Sandroff: Tephillah)
Regular price €8,95 EURRegular priceUnit price / per -
Amor de Lohn: The Distant Love Of The Troubadors - Martin Best Ensemble
Regular price €4,95 EURRegular priceUnit price / per -
AVE REX ANGELORUM: CAROLS AND MUSIC TRACING THE JOURNEY FROM CHRIST THE KING TO EPIPHANY: CHOIR OF KEBLE COLLEGE, OXFORD
Regular price €4,95 EURRegular priceUnit price / per -
Bach Family: Chamber Music For Two Flutes
Regular price €4,95 EURRegular priceUnit price / per -
BACH: 6 Brandenburg Concertos (1953 Aldeburgh Festival Opening Concert) - Britten, English Chamber Orchestra (2 CDs)
Regular price €9,95 EURRegular priceUnit price / per -
BACH: 6 Partitas, BWV 825 - 830 - GUSTAV LEONHARDT (2 CDs)
Regular price €9,95 EURRegular priceUnit price / per -
BACH: Brandenburg Concertos 1-4 - ACADEMY OF ST MARTIN in THE FIELDS, SIR NEVILLE MARRINER
Regular price €8,95 EURRegular priceUnit price / per -
Bach: Complete Works For Organ, Vol. 10 - Kevin Bowyer (2 CDs)
Regular price €4,95 EURRegular priceUnit price / per -
Bach: Keyboard Concertos BWV 1053-1058 - Nick van Bloss, English Chamber Orchestra
Regular price €4,95 EURRegular priceUnit price / per -
Bach: Mass In B Minor, BWV 232 - SCHWARZKOPF / KARAJAN / VIENNA PHILHARMONIC (2 CDs)
Regular price €9,95 EURRegular priceUnit price / per -
Bach: The Partitas BWV 825-830 - Virginia Black, piano (2 CDs)
Regular price €4,95 EURRegular priceUnit price / per -
Bach: Works For Harpsichord - Richard Lester (2 CDs)
Regular price €4,95 EURRegular priceUnit price / per -
Balanchine's Jewels - MARIINSKY BALLET AND ORCHESTRA (Blu-Ray)
Regular price €9,95 EURRegular priceUnit price / per -
Beethoven: Complete Sonatas For Violin & Piano and Cello & Piano - PAUL TORTELIER, CHRISTIAN FERRAS, ERIC HEIDSIECK, PIERRE BARBIZET (5 CDS)
Regular price €14,95 EURRegular priceUnit price / per -
Beethoven: String Quartets Op. 18/3, Op. 18/5 & Op. 135 - ARTEMIS QUARTET
Regular price €7,95 EURRegular priceUnit price / per -
Beethoven: Symphonies 1, 2, 3 & 8 - WOLFGANG SAWALLISCH, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (2 CDs)
Regular price €9,95 EURRegular priceUnit price / per -
Beethoven: Symphonies 4 & 6 - SIMON RATTLE, VIENNA PHILARMONIC
Regular price €8,95 EURRegular priceUnit price / per -
Beethoven: Two Romances; Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto; Schubert: Konzertstuck: RONALD THOMAS, BOURNEMOUTH SINFONIETTA
Regular price €4,95 EURRegular priceUnit price / per -
Beethoven: Variations For Piano - JOHN OGDON, EMIL GILELS
Regular price €8,95 EURRegular priceUnit price / per