Another famous singer dead

[Brian Ellis]

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, a fantastic baritone, famous for his Wagnerian roles and, above all, for German-language lieder (Schubert, Wolf etc.). He was the leading authority for Schubert's lieder, from the frivolous to the most serious.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-18118722

[Jammrock]

Thought you might be interested in this, Brian.

http://www.wdav.org/26_269_0.cfm?do=view&id=513&utm_source=052512+eNews+-+no+ads&utm_campaign=052512+eNews&utm_medium=email

WDAV is my local classical station. They host NPR's World of Opera and are doing a short tribute to Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau this Saturday. The radio station can be streamed online for free so if you don't mind staying up late it give it a listen.

Following this is World of Opera. They are doing a production of Joseph Hadyn's "La Vera Costanza" from Belgium.

PS - Their 128k streams sound very good. Not quite CD quality, but very close.

[Brian Ellis]

Thanks for that, Jammy! The youtubes were interesting. In particular, the Erlkômig is a great historical extract of the recordings DFD made with Gerald Moore, his favourite accompanist. The piece is extraordinarily difficult for the pianist as he is responsible for matching volume to the singer and as it goes from fff to ppp and back agin, this shows GM's mastery of his art, as well as DFD's of his. GM wrote an autobiography, "Am I too loud?" that is a humourous anthology of anecdotes regarding all the world-class singers he accompanied. Well worth reading if you can get hold of it.

As you say, not the best time for streaming and my IT equipment is too noisy and low sound quality for serious listening.