I joined this group a year or so ago and have enjoyed the postings!  I first
learned of DFD in the 60's.  Gerard Souzay, which was a stage name, passed away
in 2004.  His real name was Gérard Marcel Tisserand.  
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%A9rard_Souzay

A friend of mine, who hosted Geard Souzay, in his home twice in the 60's, says
during one of Souzay's visits, Souzay asked him if he could use his stereo to
listen and study a recording, for a new role he was learning.  My friend does
not remember the recording, composer or work, but, does remember the recording
was DFD.  Souzay said he thought it was easier to learning a new work from a
good recording.  Who better than DFD!

Les Burrows




________________________________
From: Howard Garrett <hwrd.garrett@...>
To: Fischer-DieskauList@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, December 8, 2008 6:09:04 PM
Subject: [DFDList] Re: What's your opinion


Dear Celia and list;
Thank you so much for your very thoughtful answer to my question. I
agree with much of what you say. I recall how in past times when I
discoered FD back in the 60's, there was FD, Hermann Prey and Gerard
Souzay. Souzay had a very beautiful pure sound, I felt. Prey was always
the guy who couldn't quite get the fame that FD had, even though he
certainly tried hard to compete. He eventually recorded material FD
didn't such as German folk type material, light German and Austrian
operettas. Then he was behind a Schubert series at the 92nd St YMHA,
etc. A fine carreer and a fine voice, but no FD. Souzay sang German
lieder, but seemed to spend a lot of thime with French singers such as
Poulenc, etc. I belive he currently gives master classes. I once saw
him in NYC when he had to stop in the middle of a performance of Die
Schoene Mullerin- He eventually came back to the stage to finish it. I
recall seeing Hagen Hagagard( my spelling might be off). It was at
least 20 years ago and I told him afterwards that he had the possibility
to be the next FD. That never happened though. I also admired Jorma
Hynninen, especially when he came out with a wonderful Winterreise.
He's still around, but no FD. As for your list, I agree that Hampson is
a scholar and has a fine voice, but it just doesn't do it for me. I have
a set of about15 or so CD's of songs of Karl Loewe of CPO, I think.
Some of the people you mention sing on those CDs. Loewe has written some
wonderful lied, as I'm sure you know, and this collection should be in
your collection. I agree that Stephen Genz and Terfel are top notch, but
have not fulfilled their promise when it comes to lieder. Goerne is
excellent as are the others, but let's face the fact that nobody will
ever come close to FD's achievements in our lifetime. These are just a
few of my random thoughts.
Howards Garrett
--- In Fischer-DieskauList @yahoogroups. com, "Celia A. Sgroi" <sgroi@...>
wrote:
>
> Dear Howard & List,
>
> Your question is an interesting one to me, but there are actually two
> aspects to it. First, how do you define "up and coming male lieder
> singer"? It strikes me that by this time all the "DFD successors," if
> you'll pardon that term, are in their late thirties or into their
> forties or even older. What age would an "up and coming" lieder singer
> be?
>
> The first singers I can think of who were announced as DFD's
successors
> would be Olaf Baer and Andreas Schmidt, who must be in their fifties.
I
> have never been overly impressed by either of them. Thomas Hampson is
> also of that generation, and he seemed to have quite deliberately
> modeled himself on DFD. He has devoted himself to research to some
> extent, and he debuted that "original" Schumann "Dichterliebe" that he
> both performed and recorded, as well as participating in research on
> Mahler. But all in all, he doesn't have the stature or accomplishments
> of DFD.
>
> Of a somewhat later vintage are Roman Trekel, Thomas Quasthoff,
> Matthias Goerne, and Dietrich Henschel, all of whom I enjoy hearing.
Of
> those, the best singer, in my opinion, is Thomas Quasthoff. However,
he
> seems to be allergic to contemporary music and certainly doesn't have
> DFD's intellect or seriousness of purpose. One could add Ian Bostridge
> to this list. He has the seriousness of purpose and the intellect, but
> he doesn't have the voice.
>
> Somewhat younger candidates would be Konrad Jarnot and Christian
> Gerhaher. Jarnot sings a lot of Lieder, and his recordings are good,
in
> my opinion, but he doesn't approach DFD in voice, interpretative
> ability, or emotional intensity. Gerhaher is very well thought of, but
> on the occasions I have heard him in concert he seemed average at
best.
>
> I really liked Stephan Genz, who would be about the same age as
> Gerhaher and Jarnot, but he seems to have disappeared from the field,
> and his later recordings were not of the same quality as the earlier
> ones.
>
> What I regret is that Bryn Terfel did not sing more Lieder. The one
> recital I heard and the Schubert CD he made many years ago were very
> impressive, but his career has gone in other directions, and I think
> that's too bad.
>
> But if DFD had successors, whether they were his equals or not, where
> are their successors? Are there any?
>
> Celia
>
> Celia A. Sgroi
> sgroi@...
>
>
> --- In Fischer-DieskauList @yahoogroups. com, "Howard Garrett"
> hwrd.garrett@ wrote:
> >
> > I just viewed DFD's master class via you tube. Thanks Celia for
> > telling us about it. It was wonderful.
> > I would be curious to know what some of you think about another
> > issue. Which current up and coming male lieder singer comes closest
> > to DFD's voice quality and intellect? There are a number of singers
> > out there, most European (it seems to me), who are very special. Who
> > do you like the most and why.
> >
>



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