GREAT RECORDINGS phase 12

SCHUBERT: 24 LIEDER
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
Edwin Fischer, Gerald Moore & Geoffrey Parsons

5 62754 2

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'Elisabeth Schwarzkopf's recital with Edwin Fischer, one of the noblest Schubert interpreters of his or any time, is one of the greatest discs of Schubert singing ever recorded. With Gerald Moore, Schwarzkopf sounds relaxed and spontaneous, and Moore completely matches that atmosphere.' (Gramophone)

Awards: Diapason d'Or & Timbre de Platine d'Opéra International

There is a perhaps surprising subtext to this superb CD of all of Elisabeth Schwarzkopf's Schubert recordings made between 1948 and 1966. The singer remained uncertain of the propriety of a woman singing most of Schubert's songs: the majority were not only first performed by men but also set poems that look at life and love from a man's point of view.

Such concerns, and any others, can immediately be set aside once Schwarzkopf embarks on the two tiny songs (accompanied by Gerald Moore) with which this programme opens and then launches into one of the greatest Schubert recitals ever recorded: 12 songs accompanied by Edwin Fischer, a peerless Schubertian.

In these 1948 and 1952 recordings, Schwarzkopf's soprano is youthful, fresh and engaging, as indeed it remains for the 14 years covered by the subsequent performances on this disc in which she is joined once again by Gerald Moore, infallible as ever, and then by Geoffrey Parsons for two final songs, the second a superb performance of Erlkönig, one of Schwarzkopf's own favourite recordings.