J. B.

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone, May 2, E-Heralded by broadcasts and recordings which drew a soldout house and an overflow audience on stage, the young, dominating baritone proved everything that press releases promised. His superb poise and musicality, his ability to hold his audience for an hour and a half or more of uninterrupted singing; his interpretative skill in indicating mood and depicting song color, were tremendous assets. "Die Winterreise," with its subtle inflections and straightforward sentiment, escapes many vocalists. But although the complete Schubert cycle, sung without pause save for the accompanist’s lifts at individual song conclusions, was an endurance test for listeners and performers, Fischer-Dieskau impressed as one of the most distinguished recitalists of this and several past seasons. The intrinsic timbre of his voice is not the finest to be heard and the almost continual use of mezza-voce limits the dynamics. It might have been wise to observe the customary intermission after "Die Post"; but this is mere quibbling against the fact of an evening of splendid lieder sung by an understanding artist. Gerald Moore at the piano was also a consummate artist, and the whole event had the texture of a well-balanced joint recital with a sympatica as unusual as it was delectable.

Baritone’s New York Recital a Highlight

One of the highlights of the recital season was the New York debut of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, at Town Hall on May 2. The audience, overflowing on to the stage, was a distinguished one, despite the lateness of the season, and it listened with rapt attention as the young German baritone unfolded the poignant story of Schubert’s "Die Winterreise", that monumental set of 24 lieder which was one of Schubert’s greatest lyrical inspirations, presented, as it should be, without pause or interruption for applause.

Many an older and more experienced singer would break and run before such an assignment as "Die Winterreise". It is long-by itself an entire evening of song. Each song is different from the others, yet all are subtletly related, and together present a woeful, sometimes feverishly melancholy tale. The great achievement here is to sustain interest throughout the 24 numbers - to have sufficient versatility in story-telling expressions; to have the diversity of vocal color and nuance to project the variations in mood and style from one number to the next and still give the feeling of continuity and unity to the whole which is essential to its artistic success.

These formidable requirements were met with the utmost distinction by Mr. Fischer-Dieskau. His voice is a big one and, hearing him for the first time as Wolfram at Bayreuth last summer, I had difficulty thinking of him as a lieder singer. Yet he is complete master of his vocal equipment and encounters no difficulty in scaling down to the lightest of mezza voce or negotiating the passage into the tenor-like upper voice pianissimo. And, while the voice has many hues, there are no breaks from one quality to some disturbingly different ones, differently produced. The style, too, is of a piece and thus it was possible for the singer to preceed from one song to another taking cognizance of the changes of mood and pace without shattering the organic entity of the cycle by attempting to make each song completely different stylistically from all the others. This is the fatal mistake made by many singers in a crude attempt to achieve variety and keep the attention of the audience.

More notable than anything else, perhaps, was the singer’s easy familiarity with the text of the songs, his simple acceptance of his role as narrator of a romantic story of betrayed love, and the pellucid diction in which he couched his phrases. There can be no question that Mr. Fischer-Dieskau, a man still in his 20’s who had intended to become a conductor, is one of the finest singers of our time.

Gerald Moore at the piano provided, not "accompaniment", but artistic collaboration of the most intimate and perceptive kind.

Ronald Eyer