In the 1950s, though it may be hard to believe today when excellent Lieder singers proliferate, you had little choice—at least among male singers except that between Fischer-Dieskau on HMV and Souzay on Decca, and their respective merits were hotly debated. Souzay was the straighter, Fischer-Dieskau the more innovative and excitingly spontaneous singer. In his informative notes, JBS points out that Souzay was the first French artist to sing German songs in anything but the vernacular and he did so with a full understanding of the idiom, as is self-evident in this recital, which restores some of his earliest and best recordings in this field to the catalogue. While JBS rightly states that he secured ''expressiveness within the discipline of a singer as opposed to a vocalist'', there is—as we can now recognize with the experience of hearing so many other interpreters—something a shade dulled and unvaried about his Schubert. I miss the ecstasy of Ganymed, the depth of feeling of Harfenspieler land the sheer thrill of vivid storytelling in Erlkonig: as with everything in this recital these are immaculately sung, but want an indefinable frisson of spontaneity, something Souzay always achieved in melodies.
His style is better suited to Dichterliebe, where he unerringly captures the joy and ache of the youthful poet's love. This is the second of at least four recordings by the baritone of the cycle, and is considered by many his best. But in the earlier Decca version (11/52—nla, soon deleted in favour of this), there is a greater immediacy of feeling from the singer and Bonneau—as for instance in the brighter timbre employed for ''Das ist ein Floten und Geigen'' and the easier encompassing of the illusory sentiment of ''Allnachtlich im Traume''—but so much here is precisely right that quibbles are out of place. Again, of course, we are now spoilt for choice (with some non-German singers, British among them, having even better German than Souzay), where, in 1954, Souzay had the field almost to himself; and Pearl have just issued Husch's warm and appealing HMV version from an earlier generation (11/94), which puts Souzay's into yet another perspective.
The transfers have been finely achieved, but Decca have fallen into the bad habit of some other companies in omitting texts and translations.'