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Great Singers • Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
GUSTAV MAHLER (1860-1911): ROBERT SCHUMANN (1810-1856): Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen 18:17 Liederkreis, Op. 39 26:31 MAHLER (Songs of a Wayfarer) (Text: Gustav Mahler) (Song Cycle) (Text: Joseph von Eichendorff) Also available 1 I. Wenn mein Schatz Hochzeit macht 4:18 0 No. 1. In der Fremde 2:15 Kindertotenlieder • Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen 2 II. Ging heut’ morgen übers Feld 4:46 ! No. 2. Intermezzo 1:52 3 III. Ich hab’ ein glühend Messer 3:30 @ No. 3. Waldesgespräch 2:10 SCHUMANN: Liederkreis 4 IV. Die zwei blauen Augen 5:42 # No. 4. Die Stille 1:32 $ No. 5. Mondnacht 3:48 ISCHER Philharmonia Orchestra % No. 6. Schöne Fremde 1:26 H F -D Wilhelm Furtwängler ^ No. 7. Auf einer Burg 3:14 IC IE R S Recorded 24th-25th June,1952 & No. 8. In der Fremde 1:33 T K * E A in Kingsway Hall, London No. 9. Wehmut 2:30 I U First issued on HMV ALP 1270 ( No. 10. Zwielicht 3:20 D ) No. 11. Im Walde 1:29 Kindertotenlieder 24:31 ¡ No. 12. Frühlingsnacht 1:19 (Songs on the Death of Children) (Text: Friedrich Rückert) 5 I. Nun will die Sonn’ so hell aufgeh’n 5:20 Gerald Moore, piano 6 II. Nun seh’ ich wohl, warum so dunkle Flammen 4:50 Recorded 10th March, 1954 8.111056-58 8.111254 7 III. Wenn dein Mütterlein 4:33 in EMI Abbey Road Studio 3, London 8 IV. Oft denk’ ich, sie sind nur ausgegangen 3:05 First issued on HMV BLP 1068 9 V. In diesem Wetter, in diesem Braus 6:43
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Rudolf Kempe 1 s 952 ing Recorded 20th-21st June, 1955 -1955 Record in Jesus-Christus-Kirche, Berlin First issued on Electrola WBLP 1511 Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Reissue Producer and Audio Restoration Engineer: Mark Obert-Thorn Philharmonia Orchestra • Wilhelm Furtwängler 8.111264 8.111287 Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra • Rudolf Kempe Gerald Moore, piano
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Great Singers • Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau Parsifal. His American début took place in April 1955 with An English composer with whom Fischer-Dieskau following the break-up of his love affair with the actress the fourth an impression the children have just wandered two concerts in Cincinatti, followed by further appearances worked and was associated was Benjamin Britten (1913- Johanna Richter. The songs are concerned with youth and off into another world and that they will be reunited shortly. MAHLER (1860-1911): Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen • Kindertotenlieder in Minnesota and New York, both accompanied by Gerald 1976). When the composer wrote his choral War Requiem in the main part folk-derived with the journey being The final song depicts a raging storm and the appalling Moore. In fact it was through the concert hall and for the dedication of the new Coventry Cathedral he had the undertaken in the springtime. The orchestra employed by realisation that the parents should never have let the SCHUMANN (1810-1856): Liederkreis, Op. 39 recordings that Fischer-Dieskau’s American reputation was voice of the German baritone in mind. The first Mahler is large for this his first major composition. The first children out of the house, before tranquillity pervades. “The depth of insight and the strength of personality behind eighteen, serving in Italy before becoming a prisoner of war achieved as he never sang on the operatic stage on that performance in June 1962 created a profound and marked song is a contrast between the scorned lover’s grief and his Schumann wrote his twelve songs by Joseph it have made him not merely a singer much heard in public, of the American forces in May 1945. Returning to continent. The baritone became a regular visitor to Britain effect and the following year they cemented that obvious delight in the joy of nature. The second depicts the Eichendorff (1788-1857) during May 1840. The concept of but also one who influences the course of singing and the Germany two years later he worked with Hermann either for recording purposes but also in the concert hall. He relationship with a now famous recording. Three years later young lover setting out on a bright clear morning, happy a cycle was his original intention but the more he composed practice of his own contemporaries”. Thus commented Weissenborn and made his concert début in a performance made his operatic début as a memorable Mandryka in Britten composed his Songs and Proverbs of William Blake with the view of nature around him, only for him to become the more the idea began to grow in his mind. The opening John Steane in his indispensable book of singing and of Brahms’s German Requiem in Badenweiler in 1947 as a Arabella at Covent Garden in 1965 and as Falstaff in for the German baritone who gave the première at the 1965 downcast and sad. The third, a fiery, impassioned and song, In der Fremde (Far from home), conveys the idea of singers entitled The Grand Tradition (Duckworth, 1974) very late replacement and without rehearsal, to be followed Verdi’s opera two years later. He appeared at the Edinburgh Aldeburgh Festival. crazily demonic setting, depicts the ‘red-hot-knife thrust hope though it is seen through death. The ensuing brief when writing about the German baritone Dietrich Fischer- by a successful recital in Leipzig later that year. The Festival in August 1952, first toured Japan in 1963 and In 1983 Fischer-Dieskau was appointed Professor of into his beloved’s breast’. The finale is the young lover’s Intermezzo is in essence a suppressed yearning to love Dieskau. This singer follows in the vocal tradition of turning-point in his career came in a new production by enjoyed a most successful tour of Israel in 1971. He Voice at the Berlin Hochschule für Kunste and eventually final journey (here the composer introduces a mock funeral while the next, Waldesgesprach (Overheard in the woods), Heinrich Schlusnus, Friedrich Schorr and Herbert Janssen, Heinz Tietjen of Verdi’s Don Carlos when he sang Posa at undertook his first conducting assignment with the New retired from the concert hall in 1992 to spend the next few march idiom) before concluding in a sad folk-inspired vein is an imaginary conversation between two disparate people. in addition to contemporaries such as Hermann Prey and the Städtische Oper in Berlin under Fricsay to marked Philharmonia Orchestra in London two years later. He years teaching, conducting and painting. His first wife was Following the death of Furtwängler in November 1954 The fourth song is another of imagined and inward feeling Eberhard Waechter. But there is always something ‘special’ acclaim. He would appear at this house for over 35 years. would later conduct for his wife, the soprano Júlia Várady. the cellist Irmgard Poppen, whom he married in 1949, but EMI were keen to find a young, upcoming conductor who of love but the next, Mondnacht (Moonlight), one of about Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau whether it be an awareness The year 1949 saw Fischer-Dieskau singing at the On the operatic stage Fischer-Dieskau embraced who died tragically young in 1963 following problems might prove a long-term replacement. They decided on Schumann’s most memorable songs, is the intertwining of of the text, an inflection or the sheer musical quality which Vienna State Opera as well as in the Bavarian State Opera mainly German and Italian rôles: these included Don when giving birth. Then followed unsuccessful marriages Rudolf Kempe (1912-1976) and in his first batch of music and words. This is followed by the impression of a makes his singing stand out. Of course the range of what he in Munich. His reputation soon spread to Britain where Giovanni, Don Alfonso, Almaviva in Figaro, Barak in Die to the actress Ruth Leuwerik (1965-67) and Christina recordings in 1955 with the Berlin Philharmonic it was night breeze stirring among the leaves to convey a mood of sang was enormous, covering the periods of baroque, Beecham engaged him for the demanding baritone part in Frau ohne Schatten, Jochanaan in Salome, Olivier and the Ougel-Schule (1968-75). In 1977 he married the Hungarian decided to include Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder with gentle happiness. A change of mood occurs in the evocation classical, romantic, modern and contemporary as well as Delius’s Eine Messe des Lebens in London in June 1951, an Count in Capriccio, Doktor Faust, Mathis der Maler, soprano Júlia Várady. His three sons from his first marriage Fischer-Dieskau. The resultant performance was widely of an old castle with a knight asleep in his watch-tower in a the number of languages he mastered for the recital room, occasion which proved memorable in every sense. The Wozzeck, Renato in Un ballo in maschera, and, finally in are Mathias (a stage designer), Martin (a conductor) and praised when first released. mood of stillness and tranquillity: a wedding party sails by the opera house or the recording studio. Little wonder young singer soon made his first recordings in London with 1976, Hans Sachs. He also created the rôles of Gregor Manuel (a cellist). Kindertotenlieder (Songs on the death of children) are far below in the valley. The eighth song, also entitled In der therefore that his importance over the second half of the the pianist Gerald Moore, a partnership which would Mittenhofer in Henze’s Elegy for Young Lovers (May Fischer-Dieskau’s first major operatic recording was as settings of poems by Friedrich Rückert, three being Fremde conveys the impression of vague sounds of the twentieth century was so important and significant. He produce a remarkable artistic and creative fusion over the 1961) and the title part in Reiman’s Lear (July 1978). Kurwenal in Tristan und Isolde under Furtwängler, made in composed in 1901 and the third and fourth dating from wood and half-remembered memories. Song nine, Wehmut possessed a virtually flawless vocal technique, as well as a next quarter century in the concert hall and recording While Fischer-Dieskau’s operatic activities were London in over twelve days in June 1952 with an 1904. The composer’s wife, Alma, protested that in writing (Sadness), tells of the poet comparing his song with that of remarkable ability to convey the right tonal colour and studio. It was from these sessions that he made his first Die significant, it is as a Lieder singer that he will be best outstanding cast of singers that included Kirsten Flagstad as these songs Mahler was tempting fate. This seemed true the nightingales who lack his inner sufferings. The ensuing nuance of a musical phrase with a wonderful command of schöne Müllerin with Walter Legge as producer. Such was remembered. His repertoire consisted of well in excess of a the heroine and Ludwig Suthaus as the hero. The now when their older daughter Maria died of diphtheria in 1907. poem, Zwielicht (Twilight), is an impression of a gradually rhythm. A weakness in his early career was a certain the demand for his services on record that he had contracts thousand songs, covering Beethoven, Berg, Brahms, legendary recording (Naxos 8.110321-24) was completed The writing of these songs recalled the composer’s own growing dark night the mood being heightened by the use explosive emphasis to certain words and on occasions to with both EMI and Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. Cornelius, Loewe, Haydn, Liszt, Mahler, Mendelssohn, in less time than originally planned so it was decided to take loss of several brothers in childhood. The composer had by of the low bass in the piano part. The following setting, Im overloading climaxes. Fischer-Dieskau’s first appearance at the Salzburg Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, Richard Strauss, Telemann the opportunity to record Mahler’s song-cycle Lieder eines now moved away from the folk-inspired mood of his earlier Walde (In the forest), opens in hunting mode with a Christened Albert Dietrich Fischer (it was his father Festival took place in August 1951 when he sang Mahler’s and Wolf in addition to less well-known composers, fahrenden Gesellen. It is pertinent to point out that half a Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen: here we find a lyrical wedding procession far in the distance before a darker more who conjoined his own mother’s maiden name of Dieskau Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen under Furtwängler including many contemporaries such as Blacher, Fortner, century ago the music of Mahler was little known or heard. vision of the Lied but with orchestral accompaniment. personal mood is introduced. The final item, to his own in 1934), he was born in the Zehlendorf district following a memorable Brahms German Requiem under Henze, Reimann, Reutter, Schwarz-Schilling and von The Nazis had banned performances of his music during Mahler’s orchestra is smallish, totally lacking brass, using Frühlingsnacht (Spring night), is an ecstatic happy of Berlin on 28th May 1925, his parents being teachers. His this conductor in Vienna some months earlier. He returned Einem. He also embraced French chanson with Debussy, the years from 1933 to 1945 and thereby effectively two horns (enlarged to four in the final song), double conflation of joy and tears in a brief love song. introduction to music came early with piano lessons from to this festival in 1956 and continued yearly until 1967, Fauré and Milhaud among others. He recorded virtually his removed his music from public awareness. Furthermore woodwind and strings. The opening song is concerned with As Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau himself once commented; the age of six. When he first saw Wagner’s Lohengrin, the appearing on the operatic stage and giving a Lieder recital entire song repertoire and in doing so became the most there was only slight knowledge of his music outside the thought that sunshine fails to bring any comfort, while “Impatience and curiosity should be the driving forces for a impression was so marked that he was determined to with Gerald Moore for ten consecutive years from 1956 prolific recording artist of his time. German-speaking countries. Thus it was quite a bold the second is nostalgic, recalling the star-like eyes of musician”. How apt a comment for his remarkable become a heroic tenor. His voice later broke and settled on until 1965. Most of these were recorded and their He also compiled The Fischer-Dieskau Book of Lieder decision to record virtually unknown music at this time. children. The third conveys the mood that even everyday performing career. a high baritone one. His first recital occurred when he was subsequent release on CD has proved a valuable insight into (London, 1976), an autobiography Nachklang (Stuttgart, The cycle of four orchestral songs Lieder eines life cannot banish the all too vivid memories of death and Malcolm Walker only fifteen while still at school in January 1942. He then Fischer-Dieskau’s live interpretations. He also appeared at 1988), published in English as Echoes of a Lifetime fahrenden Gesellen (Songs of a Wayfaring Lad) to poems studied with the tenor Georg Walter, himself a renowned the Bayreuth Festival during the years 1954-61 when he (London, 1989), in addition to books on the Lieder of by Mahler himself, were written during the years 1883-85. Lieder singer in his day. Before he could make his real sang the Herald in Lohengrin, an unforgettable Wolfram in Schubert (New York, 1977) and Schumann (London, Although written for voice and piano the composer always début he was called up into the German army at the age of Tannhäuser, Kothner in Meistersinger and Amfortas in 1992), and on Wagner and Nietzsche (1976). envisaged them as orchestral songs. He wrote them 8.111300 2 8.111300 3 4 8.111300 111300 bk Dieskau EU 13/7/08 22:45 Page 2
Great Singers • Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau Parsifal. His American début took place in April 1955 with An English composer with whom Fischer-Dieskau following the break-up of his love affair with the actress the fourth an impression the children have just wandered two concerts in Cincinatti, followed by further appearances worked and was associated was Benjamin Britten (1913- Johanna Richter. The songs are concerned with youth and off into another world and that they will be reunited shortly. MAHLER (1860-1911): Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen • Kindertotenlieder in Minnesota and New York, both accompanied by Gerald 1976). When the composer wrote his choral War Requiem in the main part folk-derived with the journey being The final song depicts a raging storm and the appalling Moore. In fact it was through the concert hall and for the dedication of the new Coventry Cathedral he had the undertaken in the springtime. The orchestra employed by realisation that the parents should never have let the SCHUMANN (1810-1856): Liederkreis, Op. 39 recordings that Fischer-Dieskau’s American reputation was voice of the German baritone in mind. The first Mahler is large for this his first major composition. The first children out of the house, before tranquillity pervades. “The depth of insight and the strength of personality behind eighteen, serving in Italy before becoming a prisoner of war achieved as he never sang on the operatic stage on that performance in June 1962 created a profound and marked song is a contrast between the scorned lover’s grief and his Schumann wrote his twelve songs by Joseph it have made him not merely a singer much heard in public, of the American forces in May 1945. Returning to continent. The baritone became a regular visitor to Britain effect and the following year they cemented that obvious delight in the joy of nature. The second depicts the Eichendorff (1788-1857) during May 1840. The concept of but also one who influences the course of singing and the Germany two years later he worked with Hermann either for recording purposes but also in the concert hall. He relationship with a now famous recording. Three years later young lover setting out on a bright clear morning, happy a cycle was his original intention but the more he composed practice of his own contemporaries”. Thus commented Weissenborn and made his concert début in a performance made his operatic début as a memorable Mandryka in Britten composed his Songs and Proverbs of William Blake with the view of nature around him, only for him to become the more the idea began to grow in his mind. The opening John Steane in his indispensable book of singing and of Brahms’s German Requiem in Badenweiler in 1947 as a Arabella at Covent Garden in 1965 and as Falstaff in for the German baritone who gave the première at the 1965 downcast and sad. The third, a fiery, impassioned and song, In der Fremde (Far from home), conveys the idea of singers entitled The Grand Tradition (Duckworth, 1974) very late replacement and without rehearsal, to be followed Verdi’s opera two years later. He appeared at the Edinburgh Aldeburgh Festival. crazily demonic setting, depicts the ‘red-hot-knife thrust hope though it is seen through death. The ensuing brief when writing about the German baritone Dietrich Fischer- by a successful recital in Leipzig later that year. The Festival in August 1952, first toured Japan in 1963 and In 1983 Fischer-Dieskau was appointed Professor of into his beloved’s breast’. The finale is the young lover’s Intermezzo is in essence a suppressed yearning to love Dieskau. This singer follows in the vocal tradition of turning-point in his career came in a new production by enjoyed a most successful tour of Israel in 1971. He Voice at the Berlin Hochschule für Kunste and eventually final journey (here the composer introduces a mock funeral while the next, Waldesgesprach (Overheard in the woods), Heinrich Schlusnus, Friedrich Schorr and Herbert Janssen, Heinz Tietjen of Verdi’s Don Carlos when he sang Posa at undertook his first conducting assignment with the New retired from the concert hall in 1992 to spend the next few march idiom) before concluding in a sad folk-inspired vein is an imaginary conversation between two disparate people. in addition to contemporaries such as Hermann Prey and the Städtische Oper in Berlin under Fricsay to marked Philharmonia Orchestra in London two years later. He years teaching, conducting and painting. His first wife was Following the death of Furtwängler in November 1954 The fourth song is another of imagined and inward feeling Eberhard Waechter. But there is always something ‘special’ acclaim. He would appear at this house for over 35 years. would later conduct for his wife, the soprano Júlia Várady. the cellist Irmgard Poppen, whom he married in 1949, but EMI were keen to find a young, upcoming conductor who of love but the next, Mondnacht (Moonlight), one of about Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau whether it be an awareness The year 1949 saw Fischer-Dieskau singing at the On the operatic stage Fischer-Dieskau embraced who died tragically young in 1963 following problems might prove a long-term replacement. They decided on Schumann’s most memorable songs, is the intertwining of of the text, an inflection or the sheer musical quality which Vienna State Opera as well as in the Bavarian State Opera mainly German and Italian rôles: these included Don when giving birth. Then followed unsuccessful marriages Rudolf Kempe (1912-1976) and in his first batch of music and words. This is followed by the impression of a makes his singing stand out. Of course the range of what he in Munich. His reputation soon spread to Britain where Giovanni, Don Alfonso, Almaviva in Figaro, Barak in Die to the actress Ruth Leuwerik (1965-67) and Christina recordings in 1955 with the Berlin Philharmonic it was night breeze stirring among the leaves to convey a mood of sang was enormous, covering the periods of baroque, Beecham engaged him for the demanding baritone part in Frau ohne Schatten, Jochanaan in Salome, Olivier and the Ougel-Schule (1968-75). In 1977 he married the Hungarian decided to include Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder with gentle happiness. A change of mood occurs in the evocation classical, romantic, modern and contemporary as well as Delius’s Eine Messe des Lebens in London in June 1951, an Count in Capriccio, Doktor Faust, Mathis der Maler, soprano Júlia Várady. His three sons from his first marriage Fischer-Dieskau. The resultant performance was widely of an old castle with a knight asleep in his watch-tower in a the number of languages he mastered for the recital room, occasion which proved memorable in every sense. The Wozzeck, Renato in Un ballo in maschera, and, finally in are Mathias (a stage designer), Martin (a conductor) and praised when first released. mood of stillness and tranquillity: a wedding party sails by the opera house or the recording studio. Little wonder young singer soon made his first recordings in London with 1976, Hans Sachs. He also created the rôles of Gregor Manuel (a cellist). Kindertotenlieder (Songs on the death of children) are far below in the valley. The eighth song, also entitled In der therefore that his importance over the second half of the the pianist Gerald Moore, a partnership which would Mittenhofer in Henze’s Elegy for Young Lovers (May Fischer-Dieskau’s first major operatic recording was as settings of poems by Friedrich Rückert, three being Fremde conveys the impression of vague sounds of the twentieth century was so important and significant. He produce a remarkable artistic and creative fusion over the 1961) and the title part in Reiman’s Lear (July 1978). Kurwenal in Tristan und Isolde under Furtwängler, made in composed in 1901 and the third and fourth dating from wood and half-remembered memories. Song nine, Wehmut possessed a virtually flawless vocal technique, as well as a next quarter century in the concert hall and recording While Fischer-Dieskau’s operatic activities were London in over twelve days in June 1952 with an 1904. The composer’s wife, Alma, protested that in writing (Sadness), tells of the poet comparing his song with that of remarkable ability to convey the right tonal colour and studio. It was from these sessions that he made his first Die significant, it is as a Lieder singer that he will be best outstanding cast of singers that included Kirsten Flagstad as these songs Mahler was tempting fate. This seemed true the nightingales who lack his inner sufferings. The ensuing nuance of a musical phrase with a wonderful command of schöne Müllerin with Walter Legge as producer. Such was remembered. His repertoire consisted of well in excess of a the heroine and Ludwig Suthaus as the hero. The now when their older daughter Maria died of diphtheria in 1907. poem, Zwielicht (Twilight), is an impression of a gradually rhythm. A weakness in his early career was a certain the demand for his services on record that he had contracts thousand songs, covering Beethoven, Berg, Brahms, legendary recording (Naxos 8.110321-24) was completed The writing of these songs recalled the composer’s own growing dark night the mood being heightened by the use explosive emphasis to certain words and on occasions to with both EMI and Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. Cornelius, Loewe, Haydn, Liszt, Mahler, Mendelssohn, in less time than originally planned so it was decided to take loss of several brothers in childhood. The composer had by of the low bass in the piano part. The following setting, Im overloading climaxes. Fischer-Dieskau’s first appearance at the Salzburg Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, Richard Strauss, Telemann the opportunity to record Mahler’s song-cycle Lieder eines now moved away from the folk-inspired mood of his earlier Walde (In the forest), opens in hunting mode with a Christened Albert Dietrich Fischer (it was his father Festival took place in August 1951 when he sang Mahler’s and Wolf in addition to less well-known composers, fahrenden Gesellen. It is pertinent to point out that half a Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen: here we find a lyrical wedding procession far in the distance before a darker more who conjoined his own mother’s maiden name of Dieskau Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen under Furtwängler including many contemporaries such as Blacher, Fortner, century ago the music of Mahler was little known or heard. vision of the Lied but with orchestral accompaniment. personal mood is introduced. The final item, to his own in 1934), he was born in the Zehlendorf district following a memorable Brahms German Requiem under Henze, Reimann, Reutter, Schwarz-Schilling and von The Nazis had banned performances of his music during Mahler’s orchestra is smallish, totally lacking brass, using Frühlingsnacht (Spring night), is an ecstatic happy of Berlin on 28th May 1925, his parents being teachers. His this conductor in Vienna some months earlier. He returned Einem. He also embraced French chanson with Debussy, the years from 1933 to 1945 and thereby effectively two horns (enlarged to four in the final song), double conflation of joy and tears in a brief love song. introduction to music came early with piano lessons from to this festival in 1956 and continued yearly until 1967, Fauré and Milhaud among others. He recorded virtually his removed his music from public awareness. Furthermore woodwind and strings. The opening song is concerned with As Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau himself once commented; the age of six. When he first saw Wagner’s Lohengrin, the appearing on the operatic stage and giving a Lieder recital entire song repertoire and in doing so became the most there was only slight knowledge of his music outside the thought that sunshine fails to bring any comfort, while “Impatience and curiosity should be the driving forces for a impression was so marked that he was determined to with Gerald Moore for ten consecutive years from 1956 prolific recording artist of his time. German-speaking countries. Thus it was quite a bold the second is nostalgic, recalling the star-like eyes of musician”. How apt a comment for his remarkable become a heroic tenor. His voice later broke and settled on until 1965. Most of these were recorded and their He also compiled The Fischer-Dieskau Book of Lieder decision to record virtually unknown music at this time. children. The third conveys the mood that even everyday performing career. a high baritone one. His first recital occurred when he was subsequent release on CD has proved a valuable insight into (London, 1976), an autobiography Nachklang (Stuttgart, The cycle of four orchestral songs Lieder eines life cannot banish the all too vivid memories of death and Malcolm Walker only fifteen while still at school in January 1942. He then Fischer-Dieskau’s live interpretations. He also appeared at 1988), published in English as Echoes of a Lifetime fahrenden Gesellen (Songs of a Wayfaring Lad) to poems studied with the tenor Georg Walter, himself a renowned the Bayreuth Festival during the years 1954-61 when he (London, 1989), in addition to books on the Lieder of by Mahler himself, were written during the years 1883-85. Lieder singer in his day. Before he could make his real sang the Herald in Lohengrin, an unforgettable Wolfram in Schubert (New York, 1977) and Schumann (London, Although written for voice and piano the composer always début he was called up into the German army at the age of Tannhäuser, Kothner in Meistersinger and Amfortas in 1992), and on Wagner and Nietzsche (1976). envisaged them as orchestral songs. He wrote them 8.111300 2 8.111300 3 4 8.111300 111300 bk Dieskau EU 13/7/08 22:45 Page 2
Great Singers • Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau Parsifal. His American début took place in April 1955 with An English composer with whom Fischer-Dieskau following the break-up of his love affair with the actress the fourth an impression the children have just wandered two concerts in Cincinatti, followed by further appearances worked and was associated was Benjamin Britten (1913- Johanna Richter. The songs are concerned with youth and off into another world and that they will be reunited shortly. MAHLER (1860-1911): Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen • Kindertotenlieder in Minnesota and New York, both accompanied by Gerald 1976). When the composer wrote his choral War Requiem in the main part folk-derived with the journey being The final song depicts a raging storm and the appalling Moore. In fact it was through the concert hall and for the dedication of the new Coventry Cathedral he had the undertaken in the springtime. The orchestra employed by realisation that the parents should never have let the SCHUMANN (1810-1856): Liederkreis, Op. 39 recordings that Fischer-Dieskau’s American reputation was voice of the German baritone in mind. The first Mahler is large for this his first major composition. The first children out of the house, before tranquillity pervades. “The depth of insight and the strength of personality behind eighteen, serving in Italy before becoming a prisoner of war achieved as he never sang on the operatic stage on that performance in June 1962 created a profound and marked song is a contrast between the scorned lover’s grief and his Schumann wrote his twelve songs by Joseph it have made him not merely a singer much heard in public, of the American forces in May 1945. Returning to continent. The baritone became a regular visitor to Britain effect and the following year they cemented that obvious delight in the joy of nature. The second depicts the Eichendorff (1788-1857) during May 1840. The concept of but also one who influences the course of singing and the Germany two years later he worked with Hermann either for recording purposes but also in the concert hall. He relationship with a now famous recording. Three years later young lover setting out on a bright clear morning, happy a cycle was his original intention but the more he composed practice of his own contemporaries”. Thus commented Weissenborn and made his concert début in a performance made his operatic début as a memorable Mandryka in Britten composed his Songs and Proverbs of William Blake with the view of nature around him, only for him to become the more the idea began to grow in his mind. The opening John Steane in his indispensable book of singing and of Brahms’s German Requiem in Badenweiler in 1947 as a Arabella at Covent Garden in 1965 and as Falstaff in for the German baritone who gave the première at the 1965 downcast and sad. The third, a fiery, impassioned and song, In der Fremde (Far from home), conveys the idea of singers entitled The Grand Tradition (Duckworth, 1974) very late replacement and without rehearsal, to be followed Verdi’s opera two years later. He appeared at the Edinburgh Aldeburgh Festival. crazily demonic setting, depicts the ‘red-hot-knife thrust hope though it is seen through death. The ensuing brief when writing about the German baritone Dietrich Fischer- by a successful recital in Leipzig later that year. The Festival in August 1952, first toured Japan in 1963 and In 1983 Fischer-Dieskau was appointed Professor of into his beloved’s breast’. The finale is the young lover’s Intermezzo is in essence a suppressed yearning to love Dieskau. This singer follows in the vocal tradition of turning-point in his career came in a new production by enjoyed a most successful tour of Israel in 1971. He Voice at the Berlin Hochschule für Kunste and eventually final journey (here the composer introduces a mock funeral while the next, Waldesgesprach (Overheard in the woods), Heinrich Schlusnus, Friedrich Schorr and Herbert Janssen, Heinz Tietjen of Verdi’s Don Carlos when he sang Posa at undertook his first conducting assignment with the New retired from the concert hall in 1992 to spend the next few march idiom) before concluding in a sad folk-inspired vein is an imaginary conversation between two disparate people. in addition to contemporaries such as Hermann Prey and the Städtische Oper in Berlin under Fricsay to marked Philharmonia Orchestra in London two years later. He years teaching, conducting and painting. His first wife was Following the death of Furtwängler in November 1954 The fourth song is another of imagined and inward feeling Eberhard Waechter. But there is always something ‘special’ acclaim. He would appear at this house for over 35 years. would later conduct for his wife, the soprano Júlia Várady. the cellist Irmgard Poppen, whom he married in 1949, but EMI were keen to find a young, upcoming conductor who of love but the next, Mondnacht (Moonlight), one of about Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau whether it be an awareness The year 1949 saw Fischer-Dieskau singing at the On the operatic stage Fischer-Dieskau embraced who died tragically young in 1963 following problems might prove a long-term replacement. They decided on Schumann’s most memorable songs, is the intertwining of of the text, an inflection or the sheer musical quality which Vienna State Opera as well as in the Bavarian State Opera mainly German and Italian rôles: these included Don when giving birth. Then followed unsuccessful marriages Rudolf Kempe (1912-1976) and in his first batch of music and words. This is followed by the impression of a makes his singing stand out. Of course the range of what he in Munich. His reputation soon spread to Britain where Giovanni, Don Alfonso, Almaviva in Figaro, Barak in Die to the actress Ruth Leuwerik (1965-67) and Christina recordings in 1955 with the Berlin Philharmonic it was night breeze stirring among the leaves to convey a mood of sang was enormous, covering the periods of baroque, Beecham engaged him for the demanding baritone part in Frau ohne Schatten, Jochanaan in Salome, Olivier and the Ougel-Schule (1968-75). In 1977 he married the Hungarian decided to include Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder with gentle happiness. A change of mood occurs in the evocation classical, romantic, modern and contemporary as well as Delius’s Eine Messe des Lebens in London in June 1951, an Count in Capriccio, Doktor Faust, Mathis der Maler, soprano Júlia Várady. His three sons from his first marriage Fischer-Dieskau. The resultant performance was widely of an old castle with a knight asleep in his watch-tower in a the number of languages he mastered for the recital room, occasion which proved memorable in every sense. The Wozzeck, Renato in Un ballo in maschera, and, finally in are Mathias (a stage designer), Martin (a conductor) and praised when first released. mood of stillness and tranquillity: a wedding party sails by the opera house or the recording studio. Little wonder young singer soon made his first recordings in London with 1976, Hans Sachs. He also created the rôles of Gregor Manuel (a cellist). Kindertotenlieder (Songs on the death of children) are far below in the valley. The eighth song, also entitled In der therefore that his importance over the second half of the the pianist Gerald Moore, a partnership which would Mittenhofer in Henze’s Elegy for Young Lovers (May Fischer-Dieskau’s first major operatic recording was as settings of poems by Friedrich Rückert, three being Fremde conveys the impression of vague sounds of the twentieth century was so important and significant. He produce a remarkable artistic and creative fusion over the 1961) and the title part in Reiman’s Lear (July 1978). Kurwenal in Tristan und Isolde under Furtwängler, made in composed in 1901 and the third and fourth dating from wood and half-remembered memories. Song nine, Wehmut possessed a virtually flawless vocal technique, as well as a next quarter century in the concert hall and recording While Fischer-Dieskau’s operatic activities were London in over twelve days in June 1952 with an 1904. The composer’s wife, Alma, protested that in writing (Sadness), tells of the poet comparing his song with that of remarkable ability to convey the right tonal colour and studio. It was from these sessions that he made his first Die significant, it is as a Lieder singer that he will be best outstanding cast of singers that included Kirsten Flagstad as these songs Mahler was tempting fate. This seemed true the nightingales who lack his inner sufferings. The ensuing nuance of a musical phrase with a wonderful command of schöne Müllerin with Walter Legge as producer. Such was remembered. His repertoire consisted of well in excess of a the heroine and Ludwig Suthaus as the hero. The now when their older daughter Maria died of diphtheria in 1907. poem, Zwielicht (Twilight), is an impression of a gradually rhythm. A weakness in his early career was a certain the demand for his services on record that he had contracts thousand songs, covering Beethoven, Berg, Brahms, legendary recording (Naxos 8.110321-24) was completed The writing of these songs recalled the composer’s own growing dark night the mood being heightened by the use explosive emphasis to certain words and on occasions to with both EMI and Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. Cornelius, Loewe, Haydn, Liszt, Mahler, Mendelssohn, in less time than originally planned so it was decided to take loss of several brothers in childhood. The composer had by of the low bass in the piano part. The following setting, Im overloading climaxes. Fischer-Dieskau’s first appearance at the Salzburg Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, Richard Strauss, Telemann the opportunity to record Mahler’s song-cycle Lieder eines now moved away from the folk-inspired mood of his earlier Walde (In the forest), opens in hunting mode with a Christened Albert Dietrich Fischer (it was his father Festival took place in August 1951 when he sang Mahler’s and Wolf in addition to less well-known composers, fahrenden Gesellen. It is pertinent to point out that half a Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen: here we find a lyrical wedding procession far in the distance before a darker more who conjoined his own mother’s maiden name of Dieskau Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen under Furtwängler including many contemporaries such as Blacher, Fortner, century ago the music of Mahler was little known or heard. vision of the Lied but with orchestral accompaniment. personal mood is introduced. The final item, to his own in 1934), he was born in the Zehlendorf district following a memorable Brahms German Requiem under Henze, Reimann, Reutter, Schwarz-Schilling and von The Nazis had banned performances of his music during Mahler’s orchestra is smallish, totally lacking brass, using Frühlingsnacht (Spring night), is an ecstatic happy of Berlin on 28th May 1925, his parents being teachers. His this conductor in Vienna some months earlier. He returned Einem. He also embraced French chanson with Debussy, the years from 1933 to 1945 and thereby effectively two horns (enlarged to four in the final song), double conflation of joy and tears in a brief love song. introduction to music came early with piano lessons from to this festival in 1956 and continued yearly until 1967, Fauré and Milhaud among others. He recorded virtually his removed his music from public awareness. Furthermore woodwind and strings. The opening song is concerned with As Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau himself once commented; the age of six. When he first saw Wagner’s Lohengrin, the appearing on the operatic stage and giving a Lieder recital entire song repertoire and in doing so became the most there was only slight knowledge of his music outside the thought that sunshine fails to bring any comfort, while “Impatience and curiosity should be the driving forces for a impression was so marked that he was determined to with Gerald Moore for ten consecutive years from 1956 prolific recording artist of his time. German-speaking countries. Thus it was quite a bold the second is nostalgic, recalling the star-like eyes of musician”. How apt a comment for his remarkable become a heroic tenor. His voice later broke and settled on until 1965. Most of these were recorded and their He also compiled The Fischer-Dieskau Book of Lieder decision to record virtually unknown music at this time. children. The third conveys the mood that even everyday performing career. a high baritone one. His first recital occurred when he was subsequent release on CD has proved a valuable insight into (London, 1976), an autobiography Nachklang (Stuttgart, The cycle of four orchestral songs Lieder eines life cannot banish the all too vivid memories of death and Malcolm Walker only fifteen while still at school in January 1942. He then Fischer-Dieskau’s live interpretations. He also appeared at 1988), published in English as Echoes of a Lifetime fahrenden Gesellen (Songs of a Wayfaring Lad) to poems studied with the tenor Georg Walter, himself a renowned the Bayreuth Festival during the years 1954-61 when he (London, 1989), in addition to books on the Lieder of by Mahler himself, were written during the years 1883-85. Lieder singer in his day. Before he could make his real sang the Herald in Lohengrin, an unforgettable Wolfram in Schubert (New York, 1977) and Schumann (London, Although written for voice and piano the composer always début he was called up into the German army at the age of Tannhäuser, Kothner in Meistersinger and Amfortas in 1992), and on Wagner and Nietzsche (1976). envisaged them as orchestral songs. He wrote them 8.111300 2 8.111300 3 4 8.111300 111300 bk Dieskau EU 13/7/08 22:45 Page 5
Great Singers • Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
GUSTAV MAHLER (1860-1911): ROBERT SCHUMANN (1810-1856): Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen 18:17 Liederkreis, Op. 39 26:31 MAHLER (Songs of a Wayfarer) (Text: Gustav Mahler) (Song Cycle) (Text: Joseph von Eichendorff) Also available 1 I. Wenn mein Schatz Hochzeit macht 4:18 0 No. 1. In der Fremde 2:15 Kindertotenlieder • Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen 2 II. Ging heut’ morgen übers Feld 4:46 ! No. 2. Intermezzo 1:52 3 III. Ich hab’ ein glühend Messer 3:30 @ No. 3. Waldesgespräch 2:10 SCHUMANN: Liederkreis 4 IV. Die zwei blauen Augen 5:42 # No. 4. Die Stille 1:32 $ No. 5. Mondnacht 3:48 ISCHER Philharmonia Orchestra % No. 6. Schöne Fremde 1:26 H F -D Wilhelm Furtwängler ^ No. 7. Auf einer Burg 3:14 IC IE R S Recorded 24th-25th June,1952 & No. 8. In der Fremde 1:33 T K * E A in Kingsway Hall, London No. 9. Wehmut 2:30 I U First issued on HMV ALP 1270 ( No. 10. Zwielicht 3:20 D ) No. 11. Im Walde 1:29 Kindertotenlieder 24:31 ¡ No. 12. Frühlingsnacht 1:19 (Songs on the Death of Children) (Text: Friedrich Rückert) 5 I. Nun will die Sonn’ so hell aufgeh’n 5:20 Gerald Moore, piano 6 II. Nun seh’ ich wohl, warum so dunkle Flammen 4:50 Recorded 10th March, 1954 8.111056-58 8.111254 7 III. Wenn dein Mütterlein 4:33 in EMI Abbey Road Studio 3, London 8 IV. Oft denk’ ich, sie sind nur ausgegangen 3:05 First issued on HMV BLP 1068 9 V. In diesem Wetter, in diesem Braus 6:43
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Rudolf Kempe 1 s 952 ing Recorded 20th-21st June, 1955 -1955 Record in Jesus-Christus-Kirche, Berlin First issued on Electrola WBLP 1511 Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Reissue Producer and Audio Restoration Engineer: Mark Obert-Thorn Philharmonia Orchestra • Wilhelm Furtwängler 8.111264 8.111287 Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra • Rudolf Kempe Gerald Moore, piano
8.111300 5 8.111300 6 111300 bk Dieskau EU 13/7/08 22:45 Page 5
Great Singers • Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
GUSTAV MAHLER (1860-1911): ROBERT SCHUMANN (1810-1856): Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen 18:17 Liederkreis, Op. 39 26:31 MAHLER (Songs of a Wayfarer) (Text: Gustav Mahler) (Song Cycle) (Text: Joseph von Eichendorff) Also available 1 I. Wenn mein Schatz Hochzeit macht 4:18 0 No. 1. In der Fremde 2:15 Kindertotenlieder • Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen 2 II. Ging heut’ morgen übers Feld 4:46 ! No. 2. Intermezzo 1:52 3 III. Ich hab’ ein glühend Messer 3:30 @ No. 3. Waldesgespräch 2:10 SCHUMANN: Liederkreis 4 IV. Die zwei blauen Augen 5:42 # No. 4. Die Stille 1:32 $ No. 5. Mondnacht 3:48 ISCHER Philharmonia Orchestra % No. 6. Schöne Fremde 1:26 H F -D Wilhelm Furtwängler ^ No. 7. Auf einer Burg 3:14 IC IE R S Recorded 24th-25th June,1952 & No. 8. In der Fremde 1:33 T K * E A in Kingsway Hall, London No. 9. Wehmut 2:30 I U First issued on HMV ALP 1270 ( No. 10. Zwielicht 3:20 D ) No. 11. Im Walde 1:29 Kindertotenlieder 24:31 ¡ No. 12. Frühlingsnacht 1:19 (Songs on the Death of Children) (Text: Friedrich Rückert) 5 I. Nun will die Sonn’ so hell aufgeh’n 5:20 Gerald Moore, piano 6 II. Nun seh’ ich wohl, warum so dunkle Flammen 4:50 Recorded 10th March, 1954 8.111056-58 8.111254 7 III. Wenn dein Mütterlein 4:33 in EMI Abbey Road Studio 3, London 8 IV. Oft denk’ ich, sie sind nur ausgegangen 3:05 First issued on HMV BLP 1068 9 V. In diesem Wetter, in diesem Braus 6:43
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Rudolf Kempe 1 s 952 ing Recorded 20th-21st June, 1955 -1955 Record in Jesus-Christus-Kirche, Berlin First issued on Electrola WBLP 1511 Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Reissue Producer and Audio Restoration Engineer: Mark Obert-Thorn Philharmonia Orchestra • Wilhelm Furtwängler 8.111264 8.111287 Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra • Rudolf Kempe Gerald Moore, piano
8.111300 5 8.111300 6 NAXOS Historical NAXOS Historical 8.111300 Playing MAHLER • SCHUMANN Time ADD 69:19
and copying of this compact disc prohibited. broadcasting Unauthorised public performance, texts and translations reserved. artwork, All rights in this sound recording, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau &
Gustav Mahler (1860-1911): Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen 18:17 One the finest Lieder singers and one 1
08NxsRgt nentoa t.Made in Germany 2008 Naxos Rights International Ltd. I.Wenn mein Schatz Hochzeit macht 4:18 2 II. Ging heut’ morgen übers Feld 4:46 of the most prolific recording artists 3 III. Ich hab’ ein glühend Messer 3:30 of his generation, the great German
4 MAHLER • SCHUMANN FISCHER-DIESKAU MAHLER • SCHUMANN FISCHER-DIESKAU IV. Die zwei blauen Augen 5:42 baritone, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Philharmonia Orchestra • Wilhelm Furtwängler possessed a virtually flawless vocal Recorded 24th-25th June,1952 in Kingsway Hall, London technique, a remarkable ability to Kindertotenlieder 24:31 5 I. Nun will die Sonn’ so hell aufgeh’n 5:20 convey the right tonal colour and 6 II. Nun seh’ ich wohl, warum so dunkle Flammen 4:50 nuance of a musical phrase, as well as 7 III.Wenn dein Mütterlein 4:33 a wonderful command of rhythm.This 8 IV. Oft denk’ ich, sie sind nur ausgegangen 3:05 9 V. In diesem Wetter, in diesem Braus 6:43 re-issue brings together three of Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra • Rudolf Kempe Fischer-Dieskau’s most famous Recorded 20th-21st June, 1955 in Jesus-Christus-Kirche, Berlin recordings, that of Schumann’s Robert Schumann (1810-1856): Liederkreis, Op. 39 26:31 Liederkreis with the pianist Gerald 0 No. 1. In der Fremde 2:15 Moore, a partnership which would ! No. 2. Intermezzo 1:52 @ No. 3.Waldesgespräch 2:10 produce a remarkable artistic and # No. 4. Die Stille 1:32 creative fusion over the next quarter $ No. 5. Mondnacht 3:48 century. The 1952 recording of the % No. 6. Schöne Fremde 1:26 ^ No. 7.Auf einer Burg 3:14 song-cycle Lieder eines fahrenden & No. 8. In der Fremde 1:33 Gesellen, conducted by Furtwängler, * No. 9.Wehmut 2:30 ( No. 10. Zwielicht 3:20 was made at a time when the music of ) No. 11. Im Walde 1:26 Mahler was little known or heard ¡ No. 12. Frühlingsnacht 1:19 outside German-speaking countries, a Gerald Moore, piano bold and inspired choice. Recorded 10th March, 1954 in EMI Abbey Road Studio 3, London
Reissue Producer and Audio Restoration Engineer: Mark Obert-Thorn 8.111300 Cover image: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (The Tully Potter Collection) 8.111300
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