COMPOSERS: Mendelssohn
LABELS: EMI
WORKS: Lieder
PERFORMER: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (baritone), Wolfgang Sawallisch (piano)
CATALOGUE NO: EMI CMS 7 64827 2 ADD (1970)
Mendelssohn’s songs, primarily accompanied melody with little teasing out of word or intellect, provide a challenging empty stage for any singer. Fischer-Dieskau is no exception.
Folk poetry settings and popular songs like ‘On Wings of Song’ are knowingly tinted and restored to their most subtle colours and both Sawallisch’s piano playing and Fischer-Dieskau’s verbal imagination come into their own in the spectral night-rides which show Mendelssohn at his witchy best. Full texts, but no translations. Hilary Finch