No other singer is more closely associated with the art song than Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, and his exemplary recordings for Deutsche Grammophon are among the great treasures of the 20th century. This cubic box set of 23 CDs and two DVDs is as comprehensive as collectors could want (even more than the discontinued 21-disc Fischer-Dieskau Edition, which it incorporates), for it covers his prolific output of songs and song cycles, as well as performances in opera and sacred music. Naturally, the program begins with recordings of lieder by Franz Schubert, though somewhat oddly, it opens with the 1979 performance of Die Winterreise with pianist Daniel Barenboim, rather than with longtime accompanists Gerald Moore or Jörg Demus. Because of the ubiquity of their recordings with Fischer-Dieskau, the decision to include the rare Barenboim cycle seems wise from a collector's standpoint. There are also recordings of lieder by Robert Schumann (another Fischer-Dieskau specialty), as well as CDs devoted to the vocal music of Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Liszt, Johannes Brahms, Hugo Wolf, Richard Strauss, Max Reger, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, Charles Ives, and Gustav Mahler. The set also includes the obscure songs of Hans Pfitzner, Othmar Schoeck, Emil Reznicek, Ferruccio Busoni, Wilhelm Kempff, Adolf Busch, Bruno Walter, and Enrico Mainardi. The discs of the opera excerpts and sacred pieces reveal other important aspects of Fischer-Dieskau's artistry, though the rarity among these recordings is the 1961 performance of Heinrich Schütz's Matthäus-Passion, which appears on CD for the first time. The DVDs show the singer in key operatic roles and in recital.
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