This CD is drawn from a series of LPs Schreier made for Telefunken in the mid 1970s, available briefly in this country. The generous selection includes a large number of the most desirable performances (though not, unfortunately, An die ferne Geliebte). Many of the items coincide with Fischer-Dieskau's choice in the Orfeo/Harmonia Mundi issue recorded live at Salzburg in 1965 ( C14050A, 6/87). Which artist you choose will depend very much on whether you prefer a tenor or a baritone in Lieder, since both singers, as you would expect, exert their combination of technical control and intellectual understanding on this repertory. I suppose that in a purely lyrical out-pouring such as Adelaide Schreier is to be preferred, but in more philosophical items, such as the six Gellert settings, the verdict might go the other way.
All I can say is that I found this Schreier disc satisfying from start to finish, consistently making a case for Beethoven as a Lieder composer, a field in which he is still underrated. To hear Schreier extract all the depth of feeling from great songs such as Wonne der Wehmut and Resignation, both taken at a very slow speed, is to hear his appreciable art at its zenith of achievement. Some, I know, find his tone uncomfortable and/or unappealing. For me, the precision of his phrasing and his sensitive response to words overcome any such objections—listen to Der Kuss—and the plangent beauty of the singing in Zartliche Liebe is in itself a pleasure. Walter Olbertz is a responsive partner throughout. The recording is faultless.'