We live in the silver age of lieder recording. In the golden age, we had
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau's recordings of every song for baritone ever written by pretty much every great song composer who ever lived. In the silver age, we have dozens of singers recording every song ever written by absolutely every great song composer who ever lived. In the golden age, we had
Fischer-Dieskau's magisterial recording of most of Brahms' songs accompanied by
Gerald Moore. In the silver age, we have all of Brahms' songs recorded by some of the best singers in Austria and Germany.
In this, the eighth and penultimate volume of all Brahms' songs on CPO, pianist
Helmut Deutsch is joined by soprano
Juliane Banse and baritone
Andreas Schmidt in a recital of four sets of Brahms songs from 1883 through 1886, the years of the Third and Fourth symphonies.
Banse has a dulcet, beguiling tone and
Schmidt is now as he always has been the best of the post-
Fischer-Dieskau German baritones with a strong but sympathetic tone.
Helmut Deutsch provides masterful accompaniments that are always there but never too much so. The songs themselves are as great in their way as the Third and Fourth, but more intimate, more personal, more emotional, more heartfelt, and perhaps even more affecting. CPO's late-'90s sound is close, warm, and true.