Song on Record treats recorded performance as a history of interpretation in its own right.
This first volume concentrates on the German Lied, moving from Haydn and Mozart through Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Liszt, Brahms, Wagner and Wolf. Each chapter compares multiple recordings of a composer, cycle or group of songs, listening for differences in phrasing, tempo, diction, accompaniment and the balance between textual intelligence and vocal beauty.
The contributors include Peter Branscombe, Hilary Finch, Robin Holloway, Graham Johnson, Jeremy Sams, John Steane and editor Alan Blyth: critics and musicians capable of discussing performance with deep precision. Rather than simply declaring winners, they trace how particular works have changed across singers, pianists, recording technologies and historical styles. The extended discussions of Winterreise, Dichterliebe, Frauenliebe und-leben, the Wesendonck Lieder and Wolf’s Mörike Songbook make the book especially valuable for anyone interested in how interpretation hardens, loosens or mutates over time.
A serious but highly readable reference work for listeners, singers, accompanists and collectors—particularly useful in an era when many of the recordings discussed can now be summoned instantly rather than hunted through several continents and a mildly deranged record dealer.
Cambridge University Press, 1986. First edition. Hardcover with dust jacket. Light shelfwear and minor rubbing to jacket; boards and interior clean and sound.
