The distinguished German baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau’s preeminent status in the history of song performance remains unchallenged, even a quarter of a century after the end of his active career. His lieder performances set standards that continue to command respect far beyond his time. This compilation, the second volume of the Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau Lied-Edition, provides an excellent example of Fischer-Dieskau’s consummate art of placing special emphasis on the poet’s text as the source for his varied musical inspiration.

On Disc 1, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and pianist Karl Engel perform songs with texts by Goethe from five periods. Recorded five years later, he and Wolfgang Sawallisch devote their Salzburg Festival programme to texts by Joseph Eichendorff in focusing on three composers who particularly identified with the Romantic poet (Disc 2). The third disc, with poems by Richard Dehmel set to songs, exemplifies Fischer-Dieskau’s life-long interest in the scope of the repertoire. The compilation is completed by a programme that embraces ‘Songs of the Romantic era’ by various composers of the 19th century (Disc 4).

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Recordings: 1970 (CD 1), 1975 (CD 2), 1985 (CD 3), 1983 (CD 4)