Wolfgang Anheisser - Die goldenen Balladen (1967/2020)

The early death of Wolfgang Anheisser (1929 1974) after an accident on stage in the New Year's performance at the Cologne Opera tragically ended one of the most hopeful German baritone careers. Out of the still very small number of his sound recordings, those made with his friend and producer Heinz Gietz in the Cologne Cornet studio stand out. Pfitzner's Eichendorff songs, which are also intended for republication, are among them, and above all the ballads summarized on this double CD. In addition to the favorite concert favorites of Carl Loewe ("Die Uhr", "Prinz Eugen", "Tom der Reimer" and others), there are above all the rarely heard works by Adolf Jensen, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Anton Rubinstein, Hugo Wolf, Hans Pfitzner. In addition Goethe's "Erlkönig", "Der König von Thule" and others by Schubert as well as Schumann's "Belsazar", "Die ZweiGrenadiere" and many more. Anheisser's lyrical baritone voice, which reached up to tenoral heights, makes these losses particularly painful for the great loss that opera and concert suffered due to the sudden death of this singer.

Wolfgang Anheisser, baritone
Julius Severin, piano