SCHUBERT. Winterreise, D9II. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (bar); Murray Perahia (pf). Sony Classical ® CD CD48237 (70 minutes: DDD). Text and translation included.

SCHUBERT. Winterreise, D911. Jon Vickers (ten); Peter Schaaf (pf). VAI 0 CD VAIA1007-2 (two discs: 83 minutes: ADD). Text and translation included. Recorded at a performance on October 2nd, 1983.

Selected comparisons: Fischer-Dieskau,Moore (9/85) 415 187-2GH Fischer-Dieskau, Brendel (12/86) 411 463-2PH

Vickers's second Winterreise (his first was available on EMI Pathe Marconi, 11/85—nla) and Fischer-Dieskau's—believe it or not—eighth are obviously interpretations of extreme individuality, risk-taking, big in scale, emotionally rich. Vickers's reading once again takes about ten minutes longer than anyone else over the cycle— the very first song lasts all of seven and a half minutes, and drags interminably as his lonely, over-wrought wanderer traverses the countryside in a dazed state. Throughout he seems second cousin to Vickers's tortured, nightmarish Act 3 Tristan and—as in his reading of that role—he takes extraordinary liberties with the music, moulding it boldly, idiosyncratically to his own ends. And, as with that Tristan, he etches certain phrases deeply into one's sub-conscious. For instance, in the final couplet of "Auf dem Flusse" there is a range of feeling that few other singers, unless it be Fischer-Dieskau himself, can or could equal. At the other extreme, in the final line of the previous song ("Wasserflut") he almost croons the words "Meiner Liebstens Haus", caressing them as the protagonist must have caressed the girl in happier times.

The stumbling figure of "Riickblick" is someone, like Vickers's Grimes, almost deranged in his anger and frustration: he's espied again in "Der stiirmische Morgen". But perhaps most telling of all is the kind of searing passion a former Heldentenor can bring to a phrase such as "meiner Jugend graut" in "Die greise Kopr as the passion of grief overwhelms the man, while the following line has every word underlined as if the effort of merely living bears heavily on this lonely creature. Yet the tone can lighten wonderfully so that the illusory light of "Tduschung" is almost elegantly envisioned before the tramp begins again in "Der Wegweiser", once more coming to a stop in the seeming consolation of "Das Wirtshaus", treated—like so much else—with a romantic freedom quite out of line with today's thinking. The three suns of the penultimate song, which—in an introductory note Vickers describes as puzzling—are depicted in trance-like fashion, with the heavy emphases and sliding into notes that have, like them or not, always been a hallmark of Vickers's singing. We leave the suffering soul somehow illuminated by his meeting with the organ-grinder.

The whole performance is articulated in peculiarly individual accents. Schaaf, his work cut out keeping up with his partner's quirks, manages well enough. The live recording is excellent with very few intrusive coughs. Nobody should or is likely to, ape Vickers, but "Der Mensch hat so eine Stimme" ("The man has such a voice") the criticism, which could be severe on specific details, is silenced. The performance takes two discs but they are available at a reduced price.

Vickers recorded his version of Winterreise just before his fifty-seventh birthday in 1983; FischerDieskau made his even later in life, after his sixtyfifth in 1990. I regret to say that I found listening to it, in spite of the undimmed powers of intellect and emotion still in place, a painful and dispiriting experience that I have no wish to dissect. There are those who maintain that the added insights of experience compensate for the self-evident and steep decline in the baritone's voice. Listening to a selection of his previous interpretations made when he was, vocally, at the height of his powers, left me with the impression that they are readings just as searching, just as moving, whether it be the more reserved one with Moore of 1972 (DG) or the larger-scale, more declamatory version of 1980 with Barenboim (DG, 11/80—nla).

Quite apart from the strain now evident in the voice, the new performance, the soundtrack of a video, is unhappily recorded with the voice not in true focus, thus placing it in a still more unflattering light. In consolation there is Perahia's perceptive and subtle playing, but with Fischer-Dieskau's previous partners including Moore, Demus, Barenboim and Brendel (Philips) there has been no shortage of such perception and playing in versions that find him in happier voice. I was particularly impressed during this bout of comparisons by the DG version with Demus (5/78), which has received much praise in the past in these pages from JW, JBS and myself. It urgently demands to be reissued by DG. The Company should also reissue the aforementioned account with Barenboim, while EMI should make available again the 1962 performance with Moore (2/76): these are classic interpretations that should at all times be there for a new audience to hear. Only those who must have every utterance of a once great singer will wish to submit themselves to this sad experience. A.B.