Zum Konzert am 8. November 1958 in New York

New York Times, 10. November 1958
Fischer-Dieskau, Baritone, Gives Recital

DIETRICH FISCHER-DIESKAU, baritone, who disappointed admirers here last season by canceling a scheduled recital because of illness, appeared at the Hunter College Auditorium Saturday evening. The house was filled, with overflow seating on the stage, and a number of irate late-comers wanting to know why no more tickets were to be had.

Saturday‘s listeners obviously expected great things, and they were not disappointed. From the first phrase of "Dem Unendlichen", which opened the all-Schubert program, it was clear that Mr. Fischer-Dieskau was in superb form.

In repertory like the one he sang Saturday, he has few equals among performers known on this side of the Atlantic. His voice is a supple, flexible instrument, admirably controlled and at the service of a poetic imagination.

Although, from the standpoint of sheer volume, Mr. Fischer-Dieskau’s voice is not the most enormous of instruments, it is quiete adequate for the dramatic intensity of "Dem Unendlichen", "An Schwager Kronos" or "Prometheus".

But what enchants hearers is the suavity and sheer beauty of his singing in songs of a more lyric nature. One such was "Meeresstille", often avoided by performers because it is a searching test of the ability to sing legato. Mr. Fischer-Dieskau met the test with ease. Throughout the evening, the baritone demonstrated his ability to spin out mezza-voce tone of flawless purity.

It was an evening of fine singing such as one does not often hear, and Mr. Fischer-Dieskau was obliged to add four encores to his scheduled program. Paul Ulanowsky was the accompanist.

John Briggs

Herald Tribune, New York, 10. November 1958
Fischer-Dieskay Offers Schubert Recital at Hunter

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau’s only New York recital of the season on Saturday night at Hunter College was an occasion of memorable artistic gratification tempered with one regret, that the admirable German baritone does not appear here more often.

He devoted the entire program to Schubert, including a good proportion of songs not often heard in public, such as "Der Kreuzzug," "Totengräbers Heimweh" and "Über Wildemann."

His interpretations might be described as a complete realization of the songs' emotional' significance and content through purely musical means, both in the general atmosphere of each work and in its expressive details.

Has Exceptional Command

This is attained by an exceptional command, his range of vocal color and volume, in fine nuances and also in more pronounced contrasts, along with impeccable phrasing and distinctness of enunciation.

"Den Unendlichen," at the start, had a proclamative fervor; "Der Kreuzzug" was sung with inward intimacy, and there was equal communicative understanding throughout the expressive array represented in the program.

There were a few points in which the subtlety of shading in Mr. Fischer-Dieskau's softest notes was carried almost too far, but this was a very minor point of cavil in this .absorbing and rewarding evening. The high merits of the baritone's singing were matched by those of Paul Ulanowsky‘s accompaniments; the two artists formed a single interpretative entity.

F.D.P.

zurück zur Übersicht 1958
zurück zur Übersicht Kalendarium