About this Artist

• Biography

Editorial Reviews

To medieval musicians, "sweetness" was the ultimate musical attribute. But they never heard Fritz Wunderlich. His was a tenor voice with sweetness to make one swoon and vowels (yes, vowels) for the ages. Wunderlich died too young in a tragic accident in 1966, but thankfully he left us a handful of recordings, among which is this classic performance of Robert Schumann's Dichterliebe (A Poet's Love). Dichterliebe, a song cycle set to poems of Heinrich Heine, was Schumann's chief accomplishment of 1840, his year of songs. It was not the happiest of times for him: Among the tribulations was a protracted legal battle (ultimately unsuccessful) to prevent his marriage to the talented pianist Clara Wieck. But it was a great year for the art of the song, and this cycle, Schumann's gift to his beloved Clara, is arguably the greatest collection of love songs ever composed. From the opening track, the delightful "Im wunderschönen Monat Mai" (In the Wonderful Lovely Month of May), Wunderlich's clear, radiant voice and smooth legato are a pleasure to experience, here in remastered, digital clarity. Hubert Giesen provides an able counterpart at the piano to Wunderlich's cantabile (listen especially to the delicate, extended closing piano solo at Dichterliebe's end). Favorites from Beethoven and Schubert ("Adelaide" and "An die Musik" among others) round out the recording, but Schumann's songs of love are at its heart. EJ Johnson, Barnes & Noble

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