There’s little anyone can add to nearly 50 years worth of praise and awe-inspired reverence for Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Edwin Fischer’s 1952 Schubert song recital. Simon Gibson’s new digital remastering reduces the tape hiss a notch or two while bringing the mid-range into sharper focus. Schwarzkopf is in her gorgeous, silvery prime. In each of these 12 songs she welds beauty and meaning into an inevitable whole, without one arch or self-conscious phrase. Fischer matches the singer’s seamless legato at every turn, and his sublime introductions and interludes sound like collaborations with God. Add these qualities to some of Schubert’s greatest utterances in the genre like An die Musik, Gretchen am Spinnrade, Auf dem Wasser zu singen, Wehmut, An Silvia, and you’ve got a gramophone classic that will never go out of date.
The Moments Musicaux are not quite on this exalted level. Fischer fares best in numbers two and six, sculpting their lyrical patterns in sensitive, gentle arcs. By contrast, numbers one, three, four, and five are laid-back to a fault and lack the firmness and vigor Artur Schnabel, Emil Gilels, and Anton Kuerti bring to these gems. The booklet credits imply that EMI’s transfers are identical to the ones Paul Bailey effected for Testament in 1997. A/B comparisons, however, reveal the EMI to be less bright on top but free of distortion at loud moments. In any case, the songs are what truly matter, and my rating reflects their importance in the annals of recorded Schubert.
