Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Gerald Moore

Berlin-born Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, the supreme interpreter of German art song, made his American recital debut with the Schubert Club in April 1955, ideally partnered by Gerald Moore, perhaps the only collaborative pianist to have become a legend in his own right. (You’ll hear him accompanying a number of the other artists in our selection.) In St. Paul, they performed Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann and Hugo Wolf.

In these BBC films, made four years later, they work their unique magic on three Schubert lieder. First, “Der Lindenbaum” and “Im Frühling”:

And then, “An die Musik”:

Fischer-Dieskau and Moore’s Schubert Club recital opened with Beethoven’s An die ferne Geliebte, the earliest great German song cycle. Here they are performing it for German TV in the early 1970s:

Finally (audio only), here are three of Fischer-Dieskau and Moore’s (or anyone else’s) most beautiful lieder recordings, all songs featured in their Schubert Club recital and recorded during the same period: Schumann’s “Mondnacht”:

Wolf’s “Auf einer Wanderung”:

And Wolf’s “An die Geliebte” (To the Beloved)

Artists note by Richard Evidon