Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1958-06-22
TURNTABLE TALK
Songs Of Brahms
Heard on Discs
BY JAMES q. DEANE
star Record Critic

Something should be done
about the neglect Of songs.
Out Of the weller OF record
ings issued every year there
is only a handful Of respect
able song collections. There
is no good excuse for this
situation.
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau,
the young German baritone.
Is one Of the few singers
being given an occasional
opportunity TO reach the rec
ord public. He is heard on
q new Angel disc in sever
songs by Brahms and the
Songs Of q wayfarer" Of
Mailer.
The Brahms songs are all
from Op. 80. It is q great
pleasure TO hear them han
died with Fischer-Dieskau's
artistry. What a gem is the
last Of the set, "Wie hist du.
meme Koenigin"l The Nah
Ter cycle is done with equal
skill. The orchestra In the
latter is conducted by the
late Wilhelm Furtwaengler.
A collection Of is Brahms
songs. many Of them among
his finest. sung by the Wen
nese bass, Alfred Poell. has
been issued by Westminster.
Poell is not quite so express
sive a singer as Fischer
Dieskau, but his voice is
smooth and he succeeds in
conveying a thoroughly
Brahmsian mood. A COM
panion disc offers IA songs
Of Hugo Wolf, sung with due
respect for their brighter,
more varied character.
Irmgard Seefried is heard
in a Decca collection devoted
to IL Of the many songs by
various composers set to po-
ems by Goethe. Schubert,
Wolf, Schumann. Beethoven
and Mozart are the composers
represented. and Miss See
fried's singing as usual is
highly attractive. On another
excellent Decca disc, she Of
ferS Schumann's 'Frauen-
liebe und Leben" and nine
more songs Of Mozart.
Rita Stretch, like Miss See
fried one Of Europe's best
present day sopranos. is
heard in another Decca COL
lection. Schubert and Wolf
again are represented, but the
discs special features are
some charming pieces by
Richard Strauss. some folk
songs, Milhaud's Chansons de
Ronsard. and some variations
by Nicolai on q tune by Web
er. all appealingly done.
An engaging assortment by
Rossini, Bellini, AleSsandro
Scarlatti and others sung by
Renata Tebaldi is offered on
q London issue. Two Of MOI
arts Italian songs and an air
from Handel's opera "Ama-
digi" are Of interest as being
outside the familiar Tebaldi
repertoire. Another London
collection of Brahms. Purcell,
Poulenc and Turina by a
young American soprano,
Gloria Davy, displays a pleas
ing voice but not yet much
interpretive depth.
The IA songs of Schubert's
"Schwanengesang" are given
an expressive rendition by
the Romanian tenor, Petre
Munteanu, on a Westminster
disc originally issued some
time ago and recently made
newly available. On the re-
view copy there was ex-
cessive sibillance.
The least successful of re-
cent vocal efforts is an "Al-
bum de Musique" by Rossini
and q number Of his Pari-
sian contemporaries, present.
ed originally to an impresario
daughter in 1885. Despite
efforts by Suzanne Dance
land in one instance a COLA
borating mezzo) and her
pianist the music on an
Epic disc is mostly tiresomely
trivial.
No vocal record should be
issued without texts and
translations. The Decca is
sues offer some translations
only; the Epic disc has texts
and translations of some
songs. but not others.