SCHUBERT. Winterreise, D911. Dietrich Fischer- Dieskau (baritone), Daniel Barenboim (piano). DG 2707 118 (two records, nas); L1T,I 3301 237. Notes, texts and translation included.

Selected comparisons:

Fischer-Dieskau, Moore • (11/63) (2/76) (13) SLS840 Pears, Britten 17/651 SET270-1 Fischer-Dieskau, Demus (6/66(15/78) (R) 2726 058

I know when the Editor sends me a version of Winterreise that reviewing it is going to take much longer than it should. I am bound to go beyond the statutory comparisons with the selected versions. Down from the shelves, in this case, came readings by Hotter (three, the deleted HMV on mono XLP30102-3, 6/68—easily the best), Hasch (Preiser, mono LV203, 3/79—best singing as such, now available on World Records mono SHB65 and to be reviewed shortly) and Patzak (Preiser SPR3067-8, not submitted for review—wonderful insights, but made too late in his career), all with something special to offer. But, inevitably, with no fewer than five versions, recorded over a period of 25 years, surely a unique achievement that is unlikely to be challenged, Fischer-Dieskau dominates the field. What is almost more amazing is that over that period Fischer-Dieskau's tone, breath control and technique have shown a quite remarkable consistency. Now in his mid-fifties, he seems even more able than in his past to lighten his tone, to float an easy, almost tenor-like line.

What strikes one immediately about the new version are not any changes in Fischer-Dieskau's reading as such, although there are some, but the arresting, creative quality of Barenboim's pianoplaying. I found myself time and again listening to what he was doing with the accompaniments, not because they were in any way too obtrusive but because he was throwing new light on the song concerned, many of them, incidentally, carrying further forward ideas suggested in Gerald Moore's readings. The pp staccato in "Auf dem Flusse" and then his handling of the dotted rhythm later in the same song is just a little more vivid than that of his rivals. Then in "Riickblick", the treatment of the bass line in the second section, its sustained flow and added importance, suggest the influence of Furtwangler on Barenboim. And so it continues throughout the cycle— the stabbing chords under "kelt und finster' (with the baritone also giving extra point to the words) in "Die Post", the tremolando representing the quiet, mysterious air in "Einsamkeit", the almost visible flight of the bird in "Die Krahe", or the depiction of the falling leaves in "Letzte Hoffnung", the clarity of the semiquavers in "Im Dorfe". All these are evidence not only of a fresh, inquiring mind working on the cycle but of points made intelligently and subtly. At the same time every song is conceived as a whole, and in this I was struck time and again by the unity of thought between the two artists, down to the smallest rubato.

I think Fischer-Dieskau has been inspired by his partner to re-live the text with an even greater immediacy, if that's possible, than in the past. I think of the words 'dein Bild" in "Auf dem Flusse" as if the speaker was amazed to see his own image in the stream, the sotto voce "Nun ja" in "Die Post", the almost exaggerated portamento in "Die Wetterfahne", the completely changed end to the whole work where the singer now phrases the last two lines with almost unbearably tragic overtones, in a half-voice. Altogether he seems to be using a wider palette of colours and even more imaginative methods with the text but within the context of a slightly more withdrawn interpretation, a paradox but true, I think.

What puts this new reading indubitably at the head of available sets is the truthfulness of the recording, voice and piano ideally balanced and both placed at just the right distance from the microphone. In its most recent manifestation the HMV 1963 performance has the singer too close in relation to the piano with some intrusive edginess. In any case it can only be had as part of a four-disc album. The 1966 DG performance is much more dimly recorded than the new one and has too negative an accompanist. 1 must now confess that, on returning to it after a considerable absence, I found the much-admired Decca Pears/Britten interpretation mannered in all sorts of ways. Britten, to be sure, accompanies with vision but, unlike Barenboim his effects sometimes draw attention to themselves, as in a too swift "Die Post", while Pears sometimes inclines to sentimentality. Besides, the recording of the piano is far too lugubrious and reverberant.

The drawback of the new set is that it is spread exorbitantly over four sides (Patzak's version is on two!) and very short ones at that—in that respect the excellent cassette version is preferable). Still, I would not let that deter anyone from acquiring what seems to me on all counts the most compelling and deeply considered interpretation of this endlessly fascinating work yet to be recorded—and in marvellous sound. A.B.