One of the most grown-up review sites around

2020
54,416 reviews
and more.. and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here

     
  
 

 

International mailing


 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

REVIEW
Plain text for smartphones
and printers


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All APR reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

 

 

Support us financially by purchasing this disc from:

Franz SCHUBERT (1797-1828)
Die Schöne Müllerin, D795
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (baritone); Andras Schiff (piano)
rec. Schubertiade, Feldkirch, 1991.
Picture format NTSC 4:3
PCM Stereo
Region 0 (all regions)
Subtitles: English, German, French, Spanish, Italian
Bonus: Fischer-Dieskau in conversation with Franz Zoglauer (1985)
ARTHAUS MUSIC 107269 [83:00]

Experience Classicsonline



 
I had the highest expectations of this DVD - two of my all-time favourite Schubert interpreters recorded together at the 1991 Schubertiade in one of the composer’s two masterpiece song cycles. The earlier release on TDK (TVCODSM) had earned encomia elsewhere and Fischer-Dieskau’s 3-CD recording of the three great song cycles, Die Schöne Müllerin, Die Winterreise and Schwanengesang, with Gerald Moore on DG (477 7956) is one of the great bargains of the catalogue.
 
In the event, if we had a Disappointment of the Month category, this would fit it. I can just understand why some reviewers have rated it highly - there are traces of the old, great, voice and interpretation there and it’s apparent that the two performers gelled in their enjoyment of working together. For me, however, the 66-year-old voice had simply become too wavery and lacking in dynamic range and all the facial- and body-language which Fischer-Dieskau employs not only cannot compensate but look rather pathetic. Whenever he sings war es also gemeint? - was it fated to be so? - I can’t help thinking how time and fate rob us all of our powers, even the greatest among us.
 
As Anne Ozorio writes in her review of that TDK release, it seems almost cruel to listen to this performance critically but that’s what you expect us to do. The audience react rapturously, but there’s surely an element of the Emperor’s New Clothes or a memory of better times in their response. Writing about another Arthaus DVD release of this recording with Die Winterreise, Kirk McElhearn thought that the merits of the earlier recording of Winterreise atoned for the shortcomings of Die Schöne Müllerin - review - but he seems to have been little more impressed by the latter than Anne Ozorio and myself.
 
I turned for reassurance of how well Fischer-Dieskau had once performed this work not to the DG set but to an EMI recording, again with Gerald Moore in 1961, still available as an EMI Great Recording - review - and recently reissued less expensively on EMI Masters 0852092, available to stream from Naxos Music Library if you wish to check it out. See Bargain of the Month review of an earlier EMI Masters release, with a different cover and number; it’s hard to keep up with the speed with which EMI have been reshuffling their catalogue recently. Ironically, the seeds of the destruction of the great voice are heard even at its height in the microscopically slight but attractive waveriness that made the singer so distinctive that one has only to listen to a few seconds of any of his recordings to recognise him.
 
I understand that Austrian Television (ÖRF) arranged to record the occasion only at the last moment; having intended only to film just a news item, they hastily drafted in an extra camera. The result, considering the circumstances, does justice to the occasion and it would be easy to disregard the shortcomings of 21-year-old technology if the performance had warranted it. As it is, though one can adjust the 4:3 picture to 16:9 without distortion on most televisions, it’s not possible to compensate for the grainy picture, with the occasional banding that used to be common on VCR and the disconcerting impression that the lighting was changing from minute to minute.
 
Stay with one of Fischer Dieskau’s recordings of this cycle from better times with Gerald Moore. Alto have recently reissued (the 1951?) recording, plus five Lieder, on ALC1207 and that 1951 version, without the fillers, is also available on Regis RRC1383 - review - both at budget price. Otherwise, the EMI Masters is available for around £8 and the 3-CD DG set costs around £16. It’s on special offer from one dealer at the moment for £10.56. Then there’s the Hyperion recording of the cycle on which Fischer Dieskau reads the prologue and epilogue (as he does on the EMI recording) while Ian Bostridge and Graham Johnson perform the music: CDA30020 or CDJ33025 around £8 or download in mp3 or lossless from Hyperion - see October 2010 Download Roundup.
 
Brian Wilson 

Masterwork Index: Die Schöne Müllerin

Support us financially by purchasing this disc from:


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Pat and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools






Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.