no one mentioned Abendempfindung yet?

Most of Schubert's Lieder...

At the moment it is "Sure on this Shining Night" by Samuel Barber. Closely followed by:

The Choirmaster's Burial from Winter Words - Britten
"O Rose Thou Art Sick" from Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings - Britten
On Wenlock Edge - Vaughan Williams

Oboy, as a vocal accompanist this is one DIFFICULT question.

For Lieder, I'd say almost anything by Schumann, Brahms, Strauss and Wolf. I like Schubert a lot, but he's very 'tricky' for me to accompany. Of the song cycles I've accompanied, I've had the most pleasure with Schumann's "Dichterliebe" and Brahms' "Zigunerlieder". I'm very fond of Mahler's "Songs of a Wayfarer", but it's been fairly troublesome finding Mahler's original piano score and NOT the piano reduction of his orchestration.

As to Art Songs, I'm just a sucker for Samuel Barber and Serge Rachmaninov, even though one has to be VERY careful in the accompaniments to Rachmaninov's songs--they can sometimes overpower the singer. Copland's "Old American Songs" are a delight--it's hard to program just a few on a recital--you always want to program both sets, they're such audience-pleasers.

Tom

<StlukesguildOhio I absolutely love Fischer-Dieskau... to the point that I am seriously contemplating this rather pricey 21 disc boxed set>

Just be aware that there may be no libretto/text of songs in this box set. I have it, it is wonderful, but I also happen to have all 37 CDs of the complete Hyperion Schubert edition, so I have the texts at hand, although it is a bit tedious to fish them out every time I want to follow the words of a song.

These are such special recordings that it is worth your while to buy the original Fischer Dieskau set which came in 3 boxes - they, I understand, do have the full texts. This box set you refer to is a budget "no frills" one. Unless they have added a full booklet since - mine came with only a list of the songs and a brief intro.

ich bin der welt abhanden gekommen - mahler. that is ...
sung by ludwig or baker

also i love strauss four last songs especially beim schlafengehen and abendrot

oh oh and... der leierman from schubert's masterpiece die winterreise

picking one is mighty hard to do

God, no! They're just songs. They have the capacity to relate to the lover of pop music far more directly than does a string quartet or opera. A song is a song is a song. If only those determined not to like classical music would be willing to accept what for them is a slightly mannered vocal presentation, they would get on with Lieder like a house on fire, whether by Schumann or Ned Rorem.

I can understand devotees of non-vocal classical music not liking the voice (I too prefer non-vocal classical works) - but the argument 'I don't like it, therefore it's obsolete' is even odder than the one that goes 'I don't like it therefore it's rubbish' which is trotted out so relentlessly on this and other forums.

I don't have any favourites not already covered (most Schumann, particularly Auf einer Burg from the op 39 cycle, if you want just one; Four last songs).

But you may be interested in the Drei Lieder (1950) for alto and chamber orchestra of Karlheinz Stockhausen - student works which betray no sign of the radical way he developed as little as a year later, and extraordinarily assured and imaginative whilst clearly in the debt of the post Romantic Germans.

If I had to choose only one, it would be Beim Schlafengehen from Die Vier letzte Lieder by Richard Strauss. Only I have difficulties with choosing the singer. Perhaps it would have to be Elisabeth Schwartzkopf, because her performance was the first I heard, but there are so many other fine singers to choose from.

If I could choose two, the other one would be Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen from Mahler's Rückert-Lieder, and this time I wouldn't hesitate with the singer: Janet Baker!

Very fond of song-cycles, beginning with the very first: Beethoven's To the Distant Beloved (Op. 98--quite a 'mature' work) with D. Fischer-Dieskau and Jorg Demus.

Followed by Hindemith's Life of Mary and Schönberg's Book of the Hanging Gardens.

The German Swiss Othmar Schoeck wrote two or three excellent song-cycles.

And besides his two major ones, Schubert wrote a couple of smaller lesser-known cycles.
(Must go to Graham Johnson's complete Hyperion Schubert issue for these.)

Musn't forget Wolf's big three lieder Books: the Morike, Spanish, and Italian.

I normally have the devil's time singling out one item for inclusion in these "favorite" threads. That said, I know of no better music from any era or genre than Schubert's "Erlkonig". What's more, my two favorite interpretations of it appear on YouTube! The first features a quite young Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau with standard piano accompaniment. The second is an interpretation by Anne Sofie von Otter backed by Hector Berlioz' highly effective and dramatic orchestral adaptation performed by the Chamber Orchestra of Europe under Claudio Abbado.

-ToneDeaf&Senile-

Same here. "Schweben" is absolutely heart-melting.

1. Wagner - Wesendonck Lieder
2. Mahler - Das Lied von der Erde
3. Strauss - Vier letzte Lieder
4. Schubert - Die Schone Mullerin
5. Schumann - Dichterliebe

If they didn't have to be part of a cycle I would say Mozart's German songs are definitely up there with the best, although they were heavily overshadowed by the rest of his late output. Seriously, is it just me who likes them?

I just listened again to one of my favorite DVD's: Barbara Bonney singing Schumann's Dichterliebe.

She lives and teaches in Salzburg now; and those of you close to London, can hear her in concerts from time to time; I am waiting for her to return to San Francisco one day, soon...

For more on matters classical, see my Blog:

http://www.myclassicalnotes.com

Brahms - Von ewiger Liebe
Schumann - His cycle Dichterliebe, Op. 48