Another baritone, some would say (and I would include myself among that number) THE baritone voice of the 20th Century: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. To this day, no one sings lieder as Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau did. One could almost take any recorded example of Fischer-Dieskau singing Schubert, for example, and say, “That is how it must have sounded in Schubert’s mind’s ear.”
Here is one of many examples of absolute excellence from this most excellent baritone artist singing a light piece from the master of art songs:
Schubert and Fischer-Dieskau: the ones who taught me that German can be a beautiful language. 😉 Oh, as an aside, notice the piano artistry of his accompanist. Schubert knew how to write accompaniment beautifully and Sviatoslav Richter captures Schubert’s artistry there very nearly as much as Fischer-Dieskau does with the song. Excellence all around.
But that was just a wee taste.
If I had to single out one Schubert song as my fav, I’d probably choose Der Lindenbaum from Die Winterreisse–my personal fav Schubertian song cycle–and the performance below is certainly a decent example (“decent example” for him being “surpassing excellence”) of Fischer-Dieskau’s mastery (although I have a couple of other recordings of his performances of this song I prefer, slightly, in terms of Fischer-Dieskau’s voice), and ALFRED BRENDEL (!) accompanying. Oh! Joy! Brendel does capture Schubert’s genius as well Fischer-Dieskau does, and that is a monumental accomplishment, but then, he is Alfred Brendel… *heh*
This is from Fischer-Dieskau’s 1985 collaboration with Brendel, when both were at their artistic peak, although at 60, Fischer-Dieskau’s voice had lost just a wee tad, just the slightest edge, of its former strength. His 1972 performance with Gerald Moore was, IMO slightly better vocally, but lacked the depth of artistry Brendel brought to this one, an artistry that seems designed to wed almost perfectly with Fischer-Dieskau’s artistry to make the whole much greater than the sum of its parts. In the earlier performances with Gerald Moore, Moore, while as always brilliant, was definitely “second fiddle” to Fischer-Dieskau, so the performances lacked the depth of partnership that mark the Fischer-Dieskau/Brendel performances in my ear. (What can I say, ALFRED BRENDEL! *heh*)
So, in spite of the slight vocal problems Fischer-Dieskau evidences (mostly in other songs in the cycle, but a bit here as well), the maturity of his artistry, his emotional depth and engagement with the music combined with Alfred Brendel’s masterful artistry on the piano makes this more than just the gold standard in performances of Schubert lieder; it makes it virtually unsurpassable, IMO. Pure joy to listen to.
It just doesn’t get any better than such as this. You can find copies of the entire Fischer-Dieskau/Brendel performance of Die Winterreisse here. Well worth the cost of a CD. More than well worth it.
By now you may have gathered I kinda like Fischer-Dieskau’s vocal performances. If you’ve somehow missed that lil point, then sign up for a remedial reading class NOW. 🙂
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