[SACD-R][OF] Sviatoslav Richter, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau - Hugo Wolf: Morike Lieder - 1973/2015 (Chamber, Vocal, Piano)

his album contains 18 of the 53 Mörike Lieder by Hugo Wolf, performed by legendary artists Dietrich Fischer Dieskau and Sviatoslav Richter. The Gedichte von Eduard Mörike is one of the five major song cycles that brought great recognition to the nineteenth-century composer, Hugo Wolf. The 18 songs included in this recording rank amongst the composer’s most outstanding works. Despite Wolf’s own regret of being recognised as a great lied composer, he developed the Lieder genre to its highest level. The undeniable influence of Wagner and, to some extent the “Second Viennese School”, is self evident in Wolf’s music. By pushing the boundaries of tonality and dramatic effect, Wolf was able to achieve an unprecedented level of tension in the Lieder genre.
The epic collaboration between Fischer-Dieskau and Richter began in 1965 at the Aldeburgh Festival. Their great mutual respect has been well documented.
Nonetheless, during their collaboration Sviatoslav Richter and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau only recorded works by three different composers: Schubert, Brahms and Wolf. It was about recording Wolf that Richter said: “On this occasion it seems as though we really entered into the spirit of these songs; we’d rehearsed sufficiently and felt not only confidence, but real friendship towards each other.” According to Richter, their collaboration with Hugo Wolf’s Lieder was the most creative and satisfying. These legendary artists bring their uncompromising attention to detail and unity of vision to produce music-making of great power and beauty.
This re-release of the 1973 Deutsche Gramophone recording of the Mörike Lieder allows us to experience the work of these 20th century musical giants in an unprecedented way and to enjoy the Mörike Lieder like never before.
Review from ClassicsToday.com on earlier release of this recording:
By Jed Distler:
“No Wolf lover can afford to miss [this].
There are numerous felicities to savor, and many more to discover. Listen to how Fischer-Dieskau’s rhythmic bite and impeccable diction in Jägerlied still manage to impart a sense of legato, or, by contrast, a dulcet sotto voce in the diminuendos of Peregina I’s opening phrases. Who else can get away with outsize dynamics in Lebe wohl and avoid melodrama, yet manage a rare fusion of tenderness and austerity in the often sentimentalized Verborgenheit? I can answer that question in two words: Sviatoslav Richter. This pianist takes not one note of Wolf’s frequently unwieldy piano parts for granted, whether making Fussreise’s interludes sound simpler than they actually are to play well, or effortlessly sailing through Abschied’s wacky postlude with a straight face.”