VA - Schubert: 22 Lieder (2023)

Historically, Franz Schubert's lieder was first known only through a handful of standards sung in salons (often translated into the local language) and through extracts from his major cycles. Over time, the cycles became complete, and the list of songs considered masterpieces continued to grow.
The record was not for nothing in this progressive discovery of neglected territories. The almost complete engraving by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in the 1970s for Deutsche Grammophon obviously marked a turning point; we then realized that it was not little-known islets that were emerging, but an Atlantis.
Other encyclopedic enterprises subsequently appeared, foremost among which that of Graham Johnson (Hvperion), and more recently that, admittedly less exhaustive, of Matthias Goerne for Harmonia Mundi.
The recordings which preceded this aesthetic awareness, however, had, if not stereophonic perfection, performers for whom Schubert was a personal and nurturing choice. Imposing it on the record, even in already famous pieces, was like a militant gesture, to which particular care was taken.
No one cared much, then, whether the word preceded the music or vice versa. Schubert was sung as perhaps Adolphe Nourrit (1802-1839), pioneer among pioneers, sang him, that is to say to make people hear what no other music, and no other composer, gave to hear: landscapes, singular figures (a nun, a trout, Death, a king of alders, a dwarf, a stream), a quality of mood and sometimes humor that flowed naturally.
To the essentials
Also, an incredible freshness mixes with great seriousness. As if singing Schubert was not, even outside the great melodramatic cycles or even
tragic, not a simple originality, even less a thirst quencher, but already an access to the essential.
The tenderness of Elisabeth Schumann, the almost painful remembrance of Hans Hotter, the quiet laughter of Irmgard Seefried coexist with the rookie bitterness of Gerhard Hüsch, the wide-open eyes of Lotte Lehmann, the nostalgia of Peter Anders.
Let us also add the irreplaceable nobility of Heinrich Schlusnus, the spirit hovering over the waters of Elisabeth Grümmer, the juvenility of Christa Ludwig, the
the fragility of Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, the strength of Kathleen Ferrier and already the irresistible vital pulsation of Fischer-Dieskau: this offers all the faces of Schubert, with unparalleled closeness and complicity. All faces? No, just one, unique.
Sylvain Fort (Diapason)

Elisabeth Grümmer, soprano
Christa Ludwig, mezzo-soprano
Hans Hotter, baryton
Peter Anders, ténor
Kathleen Ferrier, contralto
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baryton
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, soprano
Irmgard Seefried, soprano
Gerhard Hüsch, ténor
Lotte Lehmann, soprano
Elisabeth Schumann, soprano
Heinrich Schlusnus, baryton
Gerald Moore, piano
Michael Rauscheisen, piano
Bruno Walter, piano
Phyllis Spurr, piano
Klaus Billing, piano
Edwin Fischer, piano
Erik Werba, piano
Hanns Udo Müller, piano
Ernö Balogh, piano
Paul Ulanowsky, piano
Karl Alwin, piano
Franz Rupp, piano