Search - Franz Schubert :: Schubert: Lieder on Record, Vol. 1: 1898-1939

Only For Curio Hunters.

John Austin | Kangaroo Ground, Australia | 10/09/2000

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Unless you are a curio hunter, who likes collecting voices from the past, you will not find much to enjoy in this set. Indeed, you might find much that will excruciate. Conductor Arthur Nikisch and soprano Elena Gerhardt were musicians of great renown in their day, but their 1911 performance of "An die Musik" is frankly appalling. Nikisch plays the opening accompaniment quickly, then slows to half speed when Gerhardt enters. What follows, for nearly four minutes, is not so much a tribute to music as a travesty of it. Altogether there is little offered by the early 20th Century generation of singers that I should like young singers of today to hear. Things improve when the 1930s are reached in this survey, especially when the accompanist Gerald Moore appears, but most of these later items can be found in other CD recitals and anthologies. Only curio hunters need to add this to their trolley."

Gems hidden here

Dr Karl | 05/05/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Of course this is not your run of the mill Schubert lieder recital, but there are exceptional gems hidden here (along with some less impressive performances). I found that my ears adjusted quickly to the uneven and scratchy sound when exposed to performances as heart-felt and original as those some of those represented here. Chaliapine and Sibiriakov, immense voices tamed to communicate the most intimate emotion; the wonderful contralto of Ottilie Metzger who was to die in Auschwitz bringing eloquent insight to Gruppe aus dem Tartarus, and, above all, two extraordinary performances of Der Leiermann (the last song of Winterreisse; the extraordinary Sir George Henschel, age 79, singing in a manner that you would have to be made of stone not to break your heart. And even his performance is trumped by one of the greatest pieces of lieder singing I have ever heard - Harry Plunket Greene singing the same song in English. I tempt any lover of lieder to listen to this as one of the greatest song performances on record."