John Austin | Kangaroo Ground, Australia | 10/02/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Every lover of German lieder and good singing should have this 2 CD set on his shelves. The German baritone Gerhard Hüsch (1901-84) with his regular accompanist Hanns Udo Müller was the first the record these major song cycles in their entirety. They set a standard against which all subsequent performances could well be judged. Not only is the musicianship and interpretation of the highest calibre, but also there is the fact that no one has been able to equal or surpass Gerhard Hüsch's way of vocalising the German language. The fluency, the clarity and the vocal dexterity are astounding. Listen to the song "Ungeduld" in "Die schöne Müllerin". Hüsch and his accompanist treat the song as a perpetuum mobile, maintaining a steady tempo from beginning to end. And listen especially to the way the words cascade so effortlessly. All the recordings were made in London and Berlin during the 1930s. Preiser Records, of Austria, have issued these Schubert and Beethoven cycles on two CDs, and as usual the quality of the processing and packaging is excellent."