Any good Hugo Wolf boxed sets?

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

I'm looking to get more of Wolf's lieder in my collection. I already have several CDs with Schwarzkopf and Fischer-Dieskau, but I would like to get a boxed set that has most, or all of his songs. Any recommendations?

Thanks,
XB

[mc ukrneal]

EMI have come out with a number of boxes over the years that seem to capture a good number of the songs. They are:


The first may be out of print. There may be some overlap among them, but that will take a bit more digging on your part. The middle one is new. I also see the DG have released a new box as well. It is:

These are from different recordings as the EMI has Moore and DG has Barenboim.

These four boxes are the only boxed sets of his work that I know of. The two most recent are quite inexpensive and are timely for your question. But you will need to compare the programs to see how complete they are. I imagine both are quite good (I have none of them), since DFD is pretty reliable.

Hyperion have done a Wolf series as well, but there is no separately boxed version (although you could try to pick up all the relevent discs, many of which were at Berkshire, though not sure of their availability today).

EDIT: I should add that the new EMI has multiple singers, which probably means that it may be more complete as DFD didn't record some songs that he didn't consider right for his voice (as far as I know).  I guess it really depends if you want completeness, variety of singers, or a single artisitic view. They both look good, so perhaps others will be able to compare the performances for you.

[mc ukrneal]

Surely there must be someone out there who has heard all or part of these sets? Wolf Lieder lovers must unite! 

[knight66]

Nup, sorry. Even though I have many discs of lieder, I have only a handful of Wolf songs. I have tried, but don't generally find his music appealing, with specific exceptions.

Mike

[mjwal]

The only one of these boxed sets I know is the Hugo Wolf Society historical  issue (in its LP form) - which has some wonderful performances and others which do not fall easily on our modern ears, I would say. The greatest performances on it are those by Alexander Kipnis, in my opinion, and they can be found on single CDs if you search Amazon, I suppose (there was a great M&A 2-disc set of Kipnis). K's version of the Michelangelo Lieder is matchless, and you don't know what great singing can be till you have heard it. The greatest modern singers of Wolf have been Seefried, Schwarzkopf and FiDi, but you won't find their best performances all collected on one box. For FiDi you need the live recitals with Sviatoslav Richter. The latter, like a lot of the best interpretations,are on Orfeo.

[val]

I love Wolf's Lieder. I even prefer them to those of Schumann. In special the Lieder based on poems of Möricke.

The 6 CD box with Fischer Dieskau and Barenboim seems to me the best anthology. Fischer Dieskau was at his best in this Lieder, even better than in Schubert. His recording of the delightful Spanisches Liederbuch with Schwarzkopf is another great moment.

Gerard Souzay and Elly Ameling gave a very beautiful version of the Italienisches Liederbuch.

[Randy]

I have the Fischer-Dieskau sets on EMI and DG. The DG recordings are more recent and of better quality. The DG set is a no brainer for lovers of German lied, a landmark of the genre. I was listening to them just yesterday.  Certainly, the Wolf songs take some getting used to, as opposed to say, Schubert, but the rewards are endless. The sets of the Spanish and Italian songbooks with Schwarzkopf are classic, I agree.

[bhodges]

Hi Randy, welcome to GMG!  Nice to see a new member who is a real person and not a "spam-bot."    (We've been having a bit of a plague, lately.)

And nice to see someone from Wyoming--a lovely part of the United States.  If you like, post something about yourself in the "Introductions" section.

Anyway, have a good time here.

--Bruce

[Randy]

Hi Randy, welcome to GMG!  Nice to see a new member who is a real person and not a "spam-bot."    (We've been having a bit of a plague, lately.)

And nice to see someone from Wyoming--a lovely part of the United States.  If you like, post something about yourself in the "Introductions" section.

Anyway, have a good time here.

--Bruce

Thanks, Bruce. I did just that a few minutes ago.

[mjwal]

I don't know that Fassbaender CD of Wolf, only the earlier recordings she made for EMI (now in the EMI Fassbaender Lied collection). Erb is remarkable in almost everything - you either hate him or love him. I cannot understand what you mean by "Kipnis [....] isn't a very internal singer" - to me, the Michelangelo Lieder are some of the greatest Lieder singing on disc and Kipnis's singing there is unbearably affecting - as it is in "O Tod" from Brahms's Vier ernste Gesänge. I have a few Schwarzkopf renditions of "Kennst du das Land?", the original EMI studio recording being what really turned me on to Lieder all those years ago and still my favourite, though both the live 1956 performances with Moore and Reeves are special - as is the later one at the Moore farewell concert & that with Parsons for Ascona, both of those sung in that more pastoso voice of a decade later (Parsons, Ascona, pastoso? Hmm  ).
The Hotter is variable for me, too. There are certain vocal inflections suggesting character or mood in Elena Gerhardt's interpretations which have never been matched, despite her elderly-sounding voice in those Wolf Society recordings. Some live Seefried renditions of Wolf (& others) have a moving directness of expression very different from Schwarzkopf (as the latter recognized in a tribute).

[Mandryka]

Just listened to DFD/Moore live in Salzburg in a Wolf recital. Dreadful hammy over worked singing. I can't stand this CD - would anyone like to buy it from me?

I seem to remember the one with Richter was better, at least in the dramatic songs like that one about the fireman. I don't have the Salzburg one (is it good?) -- only the Budapest one on Music and Arts. I'll play it tonight.

Who are good TENORS in Wolf? You know - a modern singer with the candid purity of Karl Erb? Good sound.

The Schreier Wolf CD isn't good. I've just ordered Bostrige/Pappano - I was very impressed by Bostridge's Liederkreis (Schumann). I like my singers light.

I also saw Baer's Wolf CD going cheap so I bought it. I know he's not a tenor, but . .

So Baer and Bostridge on the way. DFD and Schreier on the way out.

And can we change the title to just "Hugo Wolf Songs" or something? I mean, they all come in boxes at the end of the day (unless they don't.)

[ccar]

Who are good TENORS in Wolf? You know - a modern singer with the candid purity of Karl Erb? Good sound.

Probably there are, but I don't Know many other "modern" apart Bostridge and Schreier. And even for the "old" tenors, apart Karl Erb, it is not easy to name more than a few and only with very occasional Wolf recordings - McCormack, Patzak, Bjorling, Anders, Pears .... 

The only one I believe is worth exploring is Peter Anders. Only a few recordings but in good sound. Some readings are intimate and moving - particularly Schlafendes Jesuskind, Nun wandere Maria, Wanderers Nachtlied and An den Schlaf. I am not too fond of Peter Pears' Wolf but Britten at the piano is brilliant, in intelligence and musicality.     







     

[kishnevi]

I've just ordered Bostrige/Pappano - I was very impressed by Bostridge's Liederkreis (Schumann). I like my singers light.

Please report back.  I find Bostridge to be hit or miss in Schubert, but excellent in Britten

(which I have as part of EMI's boxset of Rattle conducting Britten)
and also Handel.

[mc ukrneal]

Good question. On Schreirer, he did, I believe, multiple solo discs? Maybe one of the others is better? He also did a disc with Felicity Lott on Hyperion - that one may be better as well.

I also recall a disc of Wolf with Wener Gura. I recently read about him for something else here at GMG, but cannot recall at the moment what that was. Has potential...

[mjwal]

Ccar, I agree with you about Peter Anders - those recordings were made for the Raucheisen Lieder project for the Reichsrundfunk in the 40s, when he was still in excellent voice (I find his post-war recordings almost unlistenable to, so hard and unresonant has his voice become; singing Wagner etc was not a good idea.) But I do not agree that he is the only one worth exploring: McCormack's "Ganymed" is really beautiful (if one forgives his Irish-German accent),  Patzak's "Abschied" brings all the somewhat louchely lilting mockery to this song which FiDi couldn't quite manage with Richter, while his "Bei einer Trauung" is possibly the most sneeringly sad (I know:I can't find other words for this) Lied performance ever recorded. - And for Mandryka's information (I may have mentioned this recording before), the recording of "Der Feuerreiter" for the Wolf Society collection by Helge Roswaenge is the most virtuoso tenor Lied on record.
For those who find Schwarzkopf too affektiert, get Seefried - in general, the earlier recordings in the 40s and 50s. I was listening to the DG Original Masters - The singles this morning (the Cherkassky thread made me check my available recordings) and I was delighted to rediscover the 2 Mörike Lieder "Denk es,o Seele" and "Nimmersatte Liebe" w/Erik Werba: riveting. If you can find this 2-CDset, snap it up, as it is full of delightful things not otherwise available.

[ccar]

Ccar, I agree with you about Peter Anders - those recordings were made for the Raucheisen Lieder project for the Reichsrundfunk in the 40s, when he was still in excellent voice (I find his post-war recordings almost unlistenable to, so hard and unresonant has his voice become; singing Wagner etc was not a good idea.) But I do not agree that he is the only one worth exploring: McCormack's "Ganymed" is really beautiful (if one forgives his Irish-German accent),  Patzak's "Abschied" brings all the somewhat louchely lilting mockery to this song which FiDi couldn't quite manage with Richter, while his "Bei einer Trauung" is possibly the most sneeringly sad (I know:I can't find other words for this) Lied performance ever recorded. - And for Mandryka's information (I may have mentioned this recording before), the recording of "Der Feuerreiter" for the Wolf Society collection by Helge Roswaenge is the most virtuoso tenor Lied on record.

Mjwal, you are absolutely right. McCormack is not for me - I have never been sensible to his singing. But I was very wrong disregarding Patzak and forgetting Roswaenge. Roswaenge's Der Feuerreiter is so special, so intelligently "told", it deserves very much to be listened – as a small sweet penitence I am doing it as I write, with pleasure. 

And, as you suggested for Patzak's Abschied, I can discover even more merits in Roswaenge's Der Feuerreiter when I   compare it with the various DFD versions (unfortunately I am only rarely seduced by DFD's singing). And it may also be interesting to look at the other Roswaenge Wolf recordings, particularly to compare his earlier Der Feuerreiter  (HWS with Moore) with his later, but not as fresh, version (with Raucheisen).   

[BMW]

Just listened to DFD/Moore live in Salzburg in a Wolf recital. Dreadful hammy over worked singing. I can't stand this CD - would anyone like to buy it from me?

How much?  (I am a fan of Fischer-Dieskau's Wolf)

Found and enjoyed (several times) Schwarzkopf and Furtwangler's Wolf recital on vinyl the other day ($1!) -- one of the finest Wolf recitals I have ever heard...

[mjwal]

I don't even know Roswaenge's later Feuerreiter, ccar. I haven't got that whole Raucheisen collection, only some LPs.
I tend to sheer off all these massive collections, having always approached (and inwardly appropriated) music work by work, in Wolf's case song by song. The Hugo Wolf Society LP box was an exception for me, since at the time it was the only way of accessing some of the material. - FiDi is very variable, BMW, to my ears, but often imparts insights while teaching us rather too emphatically about the song in question. I admire several of the performances on his Goethe-Lieder disc with Richter (of course it is pure pleasure to hear Richter playing this wonderful music) - the Harfenspieler songs and several others. But there is always that apprehensiveness while listening that he will begin to bark to warn you of an important message coming up. Some of the songs - "Gesang Weylas" (one of the non-Goethe encores) need a richer, more commanding voice to realise those amazing Melodiebögen (melodic arcs?) and dramatic declamations ("Prometheus"). By the way, "Gesang Weylas"has a complex background. I read somewhere that back in the early days of Anglo-Saxon Wolf enthusiasm, when that above-mentioned collection was issued on 78s (as I first heard some of the songs back in the 60s), people would ransack dictionaries of mythology to identify "Orplid", to no avail. Of course, that was an invention of Mörike's - during his youth he used to fantasise with friends about this legendary country, wrote plays etc on the subject, and the lyric actually derives from one of those plays. His complex artist novel Maler Nolten also includes some of the poems. Mörike is fantastically difficult to translate, and the English words given in record notes (or on the net) sadly fail to give much impression of the poetic mastery involved. I have made several attempts to translate Weyla's song, here is the latest imperfect rendering:
Weyla's Song
You are Orplid, my land!
Distantly gleaming peaks -                                                                                                                         
The ocean breaking on your sun-lit strand                                                                                           
Breathes misty vapours, moistening the gods' own cheeks.
Primeval waters are ascending now
Renewed about your hips, my child! Ah, you  -                                                                                                 
To your divinity bow                                                                                                                     
Kings, who form your retinue.

I agree about the Schwarzkopf/Furtwängler recital - I have two different LP editions, as the first issued by EMI omitted some of the songs. I am, however, most of all attached to her album of Goethe-Lieder w/Moore, which is to me perfection, and "Kennst du das Land" its summit.

[Mandryka]

Very nice poem, mjwal. I know, from my own attempts at French/English translation, how hard it is to do that sort of thing.

Schwartzkopf sings " "Kennst du das Land" very well  in a Carnegie Hall recital on EMI. She really is outstanding in those Mignon songs.

Re tenors, there's always Karl Erb -- very good in "Schlafendes Jesuskind" I think.

I have also been enjoying Leo Slezak in "Verschwiegene Liebe."

"Feuerreiter" isn't a favourite of mine -- but I will try to hear Roswaenge. I just downloaded Patzak's lieder recording on Preiser from amazon. mjwal's description made it irresistible.  What do you guys think of his Schoene Muellerin?

There are huge bargains to be had from Preiser at the moment on amazon in historic lieder, for mp3 download. I have the Erb sets, the Stich Randall recital, the Slezak. If you have time to suggest any other interesting lieder discs from Preiser I would appreciate it!

[mjwal]

Thank you, Mandryka - I guessed that you, if anyone, would appreciate it. - Yes, Schwarzkopf did do those Mignon songs very expressively, without simpering, and there are several lives of "KddL" to prove it. I suppose the Carnegie Hall recital is the one I have in an earlier incarnation w/George Reeves in 1956? Then there is Salzburg '56 w/Moore and Ascona '67 w/Parsons, apart from the powerful version one the occasion of Moore's "farewell" concert (w/FiDi & Los Angeles). To follow Schw. up, I recommend the concert w/Jacqueline Robin in Strasbourg '60 - apart from Schubert and Wolf (not Mignon) the Strauss, particularly the "Ruhe, meine Seele", are very good; the latter knocks the version w/Szell for six.
I find the Mignon songs are also done powerfully (and more directly) by Seefried at the BBC (Legends) in '62 - and she offers us the Schubert versions as well as his four Gretchen settings - of which D126 "Szene aus Faust" is terrifyingly Gothic (she did these back in '52 w/Werba - great disc on Archipel - but not more movingly). I have been transferring my worship to Seefried more and more, though one does have to put up with a shortness and austerity of voice during her later career.
Most of my "records of singing" are on LP, so I can't really say what is on Preiser CD. (All my Seinemeyers are on Preiser LP - but she's not basically a lieder singer. ) I will recommend Elizabeth Schumann's Wolf (w/Moore '45) and Strauss recordings ('27-38) - I have them on a World Record Club LP and don't know if Preiser has them - the orchestrally acc. songs ("Morgen" and "Ständchen") are particularly wonderful.
To return to Mörike, if not to Wolf: I started translating the whole of Maler Nolten (Nolten the painter) but after about 20 pages was dismayed that after all these years an American had published the first translation. It is very expensive - I haven't seen it and won't, as I rarely look at others' versions of works I know in the original (it's a kind of internal economy, not arrogance); I am now considering whether to continue after all and put it on the net for free for interested music-lovers...It is actually one of the most aesthetically radical novels of the 19th C.