When we think of tenor Fritz Wunderlich (1930-1966) as an interpreter of “Early Music”, it is the parts he sang in Bach’s passions and oratorios that immediately come to mind. In this respect, Germany’s great tenor had already gone down in the annals of record history during his short lifetime – he died falling from a stairway due to carelessly tied shoes... His international fame in later years was due to his outstanding performances as a Mozart tenor but also to his artistic versatility which included the Romantic opera, the German Lied, the operetta as well as contemporary and even Schlager music, i.e. easy-listening semi-crossover semi-pop semi-music mostly beloved in the Germanic realm. However, Wunderlich’s first recordings of early music and of music composed in the centuries before Bach are less well-known. Their excellent sound quality, from the original mono master tapes deftly transposed into stereo impression, were remastered in the best possible way. Apart from the Bach contemporary Christoph Graupner, the repertoire presented on this double album covers a time span that ranges from two centuries to some decades before Johann Sebastian Bach’s birth, i.e. from Heinrich Isaac and Adam von Fulda – who both lived at the very end of the Middle Ages – to Buxtehude. Far from sounding operatic, Wunderlich’s then young voice (recordings were done between 1954 and 57) perfectly matches the purest style that still nowadays would not pale compared to what is done in Baroque and ancien music circles. © SM/Qobuz