Although Tauber shouldn't serve as a model for singers aspiring to become Lieder specialists, his accomplishments in this field are so beguiling that it is hard not to capitulate to such seductive singing, even when he occasionally offends some of the tenets of good taste. In any case, his singing in itself, so effortless and light, so filled with sweet, warm tone and tender mezza voce, is deeply appealing and quite individual in its accents. Who could play with an individual phrase so arrestingly as Tauber? Few if any tenors who have recorded Lieder have had such a voice or such powers of communication.
The disc includes his extremely rare French Odeon discs, of which Heidenroslein is an absolute winner. In more serious pieces, such as Am Meer the intelligence and concentration of the singing are quite remarkable, even unique listen to how the climax at ''die Mowe flog hin und wieder'' is ideally achieved, and the accents on certain syllables enhance the tragic feeling of the piece. Similar insights are achieved in ''Der Doppelganger''. In Schumann, Tauber can be similarly riveting. Few have managed such a mesmeric line and control in ''Die Lotusblume'', a disc made in 1927 when the voice was at its most sappy and warm. Die beiden Grenadiere of 1929 is just as compelling, the familiar story told with an opera-singer's feeling for the dramatic. Of course licence is taken here and in other songs that might be frowned upon by some specialists today; so much the worse for them.
I have never heard before the disc of Tauber duetting with himself in Ich wollt' meine Liebe; the 'pair' are perfectly matched! The Venetian gondolier's song is one of Tauber's most irresistible performances. Loewe's Tom der Reimer has always been a favourite with tenors and is sung with caressing portamentos, though not so many as the great Slezak employed in his 1928 recording, but beware the cuts.
Wolf suffers most from the hideous orchestral accompaniments that are the chief drawback to all these performances; Heimweh, subtly and beautifully sung, suffers horribly in this respect. Charles Haynes's comment in his notes that these were effected with ''skill and great taste'' and that the ''eventual result is if anything beneficial'' is, in my opinion, one of the most extraordinary statements I have read for many a day. Similarly, he must have had his eyes averted from the catalogue if he thinks that few of Loewe's songs are remembered today! Towards the end we come to Tauber's unforgettable accounts of Rubinstein's Die Nacht, Grieg's Spring (with one of Tauber's inimitable high pianissimo notes) and Liszt's Es muss ein Wunderbares sein, made in the 1927–8 period, and each worth the price of the whole disc. The transfers have been faithfully done.'