June 11, 2005

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau turns 80, so the Grauniad publishes an article about him, as one of the greatest singers of the twentieth century. (via a&ldaily.com)

I'm not actually a huge lieder fan, but my fiance got me listening to Fischer-Dieskau and he's amazing - he could convert me. A very interesting man as well.

posted by jb 19 years ago
  • Lieder recitals in the POW camp. That's a hell of an image. How fortunate that he didn't stop an Allied bullet, as did poor Webern.
  • I love lieder (I sang a lot of it in college). Fischer-Dieskau's recording of Schumann's Dichterliebe is one of my two favorite renditions of that song cycle, along with the recording by Fritz Wunderlich. Another German musician who, like Webern met a bad end in WWII was Hugo Distler. Unfortunately there's not a lot of scholarship on Distler in English.
  • Bah-- should be a crime to post about interesting musicians I've never heard of but not provide any sort of audio.
  • Carmina Burana can be found at Torrentspy, though I'd like to hear something different.
  • exppii, here you go. (It's under jb's second link, though well hidden.)
  • Glad you posted this, jb. I am a huge fan of Lieder; my coach is one of the best British Lieder singers ever. To any singer, Fischer-Dieskau is an inspiration and a reminder of how far we've got to go. He just totally rocks, dude.