To quote Ruckert/Mahler, “Sie hat so lange nichts von mir vernommen” (“You have heard nothing from me for so long”), is appropriate to all three artists heard here, at least as far as recording is concerned. Fleisher is particularly welcome back. Having overcome an illness that lamed his right hand, he shows that the affliction has lessened not at all his gifts, displayed here in the most sensitively shaped accompaniments one could wish to hear, of which the plaintively accented epilogue to Op. 42 is only one fine example.
Shirley-Quirk, though in his 66th year when these recordings were made in 1996, shows that his firm line, long breath and ability to shape phrases with instinctive musicianship and feeling have hardly been affected by the passage of time. We are consoled for the occasional sign of strain at the top by the mellow, rounded quality elsewhere, always a characteristic of his singing. With Fleisher playing on his most perceptive form, their account of Dichterliebe need fear little from the best of available baritone versions. Both artists go to the heart of these great Heine settings. Try “Dass is ein Floten und Geigen” and the succeeding song to prove my point, or listen to Shirley-Quirk’s still beautiful half-voice in “Am leuchtenden Sommermorgen”. Op. 24 is almost as good.
Bryn-Julson has always been an artist of intelligence, as evidenced by her willingness to tackle modern scores of extreme difficulty. Here she brings her undoubted gifts to bear on more familiar territory. That said, her rather monochrome, white tone does not always make the most of Schumann’s varied line, though the performance of Op. 42 is never less than perceptively shaped.
Comparisons would hardly help in deciding whether or not you acquire this rather special issue and its singular coupling. If you want these three key cycles on a single CD, you will find much to engross you here, and the recording of voice and piano is faultless.'