Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau: Verzeichnis der Tonaufnahmen (review)

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau: Verzeichnis der Tonaufnahmen. By Monika Wolf. Tutzing: Hans Schneider, 2000. [xi, 539 p. ISBN 3-7952-0999-4. DM 92.]

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau: Verzeichnis der Tonaufnahmen (Catalog of Sound Recordings) is the first attempt at a comprehensive, authorized discography of the German baritone, one of the twentieth century's most significant singers. Author Monika Wolf's "lifelong preoccupation" (p. vii) with Fischer-Dieskau and his recorded legacy began when she was a teenager, and the research culminating in this volume required correspondence extending to three continents and numerous sound-recording and broadcasting archives. Assembling a list of Fischer-Dieskau's commercial recordings would be a relatively straightforward task but would leave a largely incomplete picture, since much of the Fischer-Dieskau discography consists of recordings of live performances, many of which have yet to be issued. After Wolf shared a compilation of her thirty-year collection of live recordings with the baritone, he enthusiastically endorsed this project, offering his full cooperation in assembling a list of all recordings known to exist.

Though scholars and researchers often prefer a chronological approach to discography, Wolf has chosen an alphabetical listing by composer and title. She is sure to come under criticism from some quarters, but in my opinion, she has made a sensible decision. Fischer-Dieskau was above all a lieder singer who recorded hundreds of art songs by the major composers of this genre --Schubert in particular--and many exist in multiple recorded versions. A chronological listing, even if cross-referenced, would make identification of the thirty-three known Fischer-Dieskau recordings of Winterreise (as an example) a tedious and cumbersome process. Wolf's listing by composer and work will make this volume far more accessible to both scholar and private collector.

Beyond composer, title, and subtitle (when applicable), each entry includes the recording date and location, along with the record label, format (LP, compact disc, etc.) of the original issue, and the format and catalog number of the most recent issue. Though some collectors may wish that Wolf had included as many LP and compact-disc catalog numbers for each entry as could be reasonably determined, this would have made the volume unmanageably large. She is to be commended for including the live and broadcast performances and indicating the archives holding the original recordings. Strangely, the exact recording dates of some of the baritone's best-known commercial recordings could not be identified. The dates of numerous Schubert lieder recorded for Deutsche Grammophon (DG) are given simply as "1966-1969," and the dates of many other DG recordings are similarly vague. One would expect this information to be readily available in the DG archives. Given Wolf's general thoroughness in preparing this volume, one wonders if DG was not fully cooperative in allowing access to its files.

Wolf has also included videorecordings of Fischer-Dieskau, noting which have been issued in VHS format but not identifying the video system (NTSC, PAL, etc.). This may cause libraries and collectors to search for items they will not be able to play on their equipment. Among the most interesting videos is the BBC production The Golden Ring, a documentary of the Georg Solti-Vienna Philharmonic recording of Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen, filmed during the Götterdämmerung sessions in fall 1964 and issued commercially by Decca/London in 1992. Those in search of a collection of Fischer-Dieskau's work that is as complete as possible should note that the video contains takes not selected for the issued recording. (The baritone learned the role of Gunther especially for this recording.) Wolf fails to mention that this video also contains the singer's first television interview, and she does not list the catalog number of the laser-disc edition. Other interviews and documentaries, including the 1995 Bruno Monsaingeon film Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau: Autumn Journey, are listed under the singer's name. Wolf does not indicate, however, that the NVC Arts commercial VHS release of...