This issue further enhances Pregardien’s reputation as a Schubert interpreter. In a judiciously chosen selection of the Goethe settings, he shows himself to be fully equipped to encompass what is in some ways the most demanding area of Schubert’s vast contribution to the genre. They may not be as intellectually demanding as the Schiller settings previously tackled by Pregardien (Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, 1/94), but they do call for a wide range of emotional and tonal control. The German tenor proves himself just as adept at such a light piece as Heidenroslein as in the still, solemn thoughts of Meeres Stille, or the forceful challenge of An Schwager Kronos (though this is a piece that demands the extra weight of a bass-baritone), or the eager striving of Ganymed, or the spring-like joy of Der Musensohn, adapting his flexible tone to the varying requirements of each. The reading of the Harfenspieler Lieder forms the centrepiece of the recital, the singer catching the melancholy and mystery so unerringly suggested by the composer himself. The books speak unkindly of Sehnsucht, but Pregardien, a superb Bach interpreter, brings out the connection with the older composer in the recitative of this cantata-like song.
Staier again seems the ideal partner for this singer. His luminous playing of his fortepiano, notably in such a piece as An den Mond, exactly matches the ethereal beauty of the tenor’s performance. Once or twice we may wish for the more substantial tones of a Fischer-Dieskau or a Schreier with their attendant ‘modern’ pianists, but the older interpreters’ gifts are, in a sense, complementary to and different from the younger artists’. There is room in the ever-fascinating field of Schubertian interpretation for both approaches. The natural, well-balanced recording allows us to hear all the subtleties to be found in these performances, which pay homage, in their verbal detailing, as much to poet as to composer.'