In the ear of anyone who loves music for piano and voice, the name Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau resonates as a synonym for the entire genre. No one before him had recorded so many Lieder, surpassing the hundred mark; no one had made their life such a continuous exploration of the poetic worlds evoked in music by Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, and Wolf.
Benjamin Appl, the German baritone acclaimed by the world’s leading opera houses and raised in admiration of Fischer-Dieskau, pays tribute to him by retracing in music all the milestones of his journey.
The new album To Dieter: The Past and Future by Benjamin Appl, together with James Baillieu, will be released in May 2025 on Alpha Classics.
Benjamin Appl, baritone
James Baillieu, piano
Franz Schubert
Liebesbotschaft D 957/1
Am Bach im Frühling D 361
Der Musensohn D 764
Albert Fischer-Dieskau
Heidenröslein
Klaus Fischer-Dieskau
Nocturne I (estratto) (Der Mutter gewidmet) op. 1/1
Wehmut op. 3/2
Johannes Brahms
Wie bist du meine Königin op. 32/9
Hugo Wolf
Andenken
Aribert Reimann
Tenebrae
Johannes Brahms
da Vier ernste Gesänge op. 121
Denn es gehet dem Menschen wie dem Vieh
Ich wandte mich, und sahe an
O Tod, wie bitter bist du
Wenn ich mit Menschen
Franz Schubert
An mein Klavier D 342
Carl Loewe
Süßes Begräbnis op. 62/4
Hanns Eisler
Mutterns Hände
Franz Grothe
Estratti dalla colonna sonora di Vater braucht eine Frau
Franz Schubert
Liebhaber in allen Gestalten D 558
Clara Schumann
Liebst du um Schönheit op. 12/2
Carl Maria von Weber
Meine Lieder, meine Sänger op. 15/1
Franz Schubert
Litanei auf das Fest Allerseelen D 343
An die Musik D 547
For Dieter: the past and the future
‘He let poetry resound and music speak‘
Franz Grillparzer's draft for Schubert's gravestone inscription
An die Musik expresses my great gratitude to Dieter Fischer-Dieskau for the many hours we spent together: ‘Beloved art, for this I thank you!‘
I met Fischer-Dieskau for the first time in 2009 when I took part in a masterclass at the SchubertiadeSchwarzenberg. Afterwards he offered me the opportunity to study with him privately. From that point on until just a few weeks before his death, I had the incredible fortune of working with him regularly at his homes in Berlin and Berg.
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau was born in Berlin in 1925. His father was a schoolmaster who loved to compose, for example he wrote the Singspiel Sesenheim (Heidenröslein). Dieter's mother was denied the opportunity to become a singer, so she ensured that great care was taken over the musical education of her three sons Klaus, Martin and Dietrich. The eldest brother, Klaus began composing at an early age and dedicated Nocturne to his mother, and Wehmut to his brother. It soon became clear that Dieter wanted to be a singer, and the first song he studied was Wie bist du, meine Königin. Shortly before his military service in 1944, he became engaged to Irmgard ‘Irmel’ Poppen, his future wife. Torn from his homeland, he wrote many love letters full of longing for and memories of (Andenken) his distant beloved.
In 1944, the Nazis murdered Dieter’s younger brother Martin. During the early years of the war and Dieter’s subsequent imprisonment in Italy, he learned countless pieces of music, regularly hearing of the atrocities at the hand the National Socialists. Reimann's Tenebrae deals with the suffering of Jewish victims during the Holocaust in a haunting way, and was written for Dieter.
His singing gave strength to thousands of prisoners. Shortly after the end of the war, he sang songs from previously hostile countries for example Sinding's Sylvelin and Tchaikovsky's Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt. His repertoire also included operetta (Ich bin nur ein armer Wandergesell). In 1947 he finally returned to Germany (Die Heimkehr) and started his international career in Berlin where he began to receive major recognition (Vier ernsteGesänge).
Irmel gave birth to three sons, but tragically she died during the birth of her third child (SüßesBegräbnis). As is so often the case, Dieter saw music as the only path out of suffering (An meinKlavier). Benjamin Britten dedicated his Songs and Proverbs of William Blake to him – ‘For Dieter: The past and the future‘ (Proverb III) after this terrible loss. Another bitter moment of grief was the death of his beloved and mother Theodora (Mutters Hände) to whom he was very close.
His private life in the years to come was not very stable: his marriage to the actress Ruth Leuwerik(1965-1967), famous from the film Vater braucht eine Frau, only lasted a short time, as did his marriage to Kristina Pugell (1968-1975) (Liebhaber in allen Gestalten). In 1977 he married the soprano Julia Varady (Liebst du um Schönheit).
Fischer-Dieskau received countless commissioned compositions during his lifetime, and took part in important premieres, such as the historically significant and emotionally stirring premiere of Britten's War Requiem in 1962 which he then translated into German. Additionally,Samuel Barber wrote his three songs op. 45 especially for him.
Teaching played an important role in Dieter’s later decades. Often demanding, strict and with a great attention to detail, he shared his unfathomable knowledge with his students. I fondly recall him telling me that he liked my recording of Sterb' ich, so hüllen in Blumen meine Glieder so much, that he would like to mentor me. From the many hours we then spent together, I particularly remember the moments when he felt unobserved, sharing his mischievous sense of humour and dancing through the living room.
When I visited Fischer-Dieskau for the final time, it was just a few weeks before his death in May 2012. Coming away that day, I somehow felt that could be the last time I would see Dieter. I wrote him a very long letter, thanking him for the experiences we had shared and expressing my gratitude for all I had learned from him. And then a few weeks later, I learnt that he’d passed away.
This concert (and the accompanying CD recording) is both a personal and public dedication to this fine artist. I was and remain inspired by Dieter both from our private time together and his recordings, and this moment gives us all the chance to celebrate his enormous legacy on his 100th birthday.
Described by The Daily Telegraph as ‘in a class of his own’ James Baillieu is one of the leading song and chamber music pianists of his generation, and a Senior Professor at the Royal Academy of Music, alongside a coach for the Jette Parker Young Artist Program at the Royal Opera House. He has given solo and chamber recitals throughout the world and collaborates with a wide range of singers and instrumentalists including Benjamin Appl, Lise Davidsen, the Elias and Heath Quartets, Dame Kiri te Kanawa, and Adam Walker. James has performed at many of the world’s most distinguished music centres including Carnegie Hall, Metropolitan Opera House, Wigmore Hall, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Berlin Konzerthaus, and Vienna Musikverein. ***
Baritone Benjamin Appl is celebrated for a voice that “belongs to the last of the old great masters of song” (Suddeutsche Zeitung). A former BBC New Generation Artist and ECHO Rising Star, Benjamin has also been awarded Gramophone Award Young Artist of the Year. He signed exclusively to Sony Classical in 2016 and a multi-album deal with Alpha Classics in 2021. An established recitalist, Appl has performed at Ravinia, Rheingau, Schleswig Holstein, Edinburgh and Heidelberg Frühling festivals; Schubertiade Schwarzenberg and at the KlavierFestival Ruhr. He has performed at major concert venues including Grand Théâtre de Genève, Liceu Barcelona, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Wigmore Hall, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Konzerthaus Berlin and Vienna, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and Musée de Louvre Paris. Further afield, Benjamin made recent recital debuts at Carnegie Hall, San Francisco Performances, Dallas Opera, Shanghai’s Summer Air Festival and Sydney Opera House. In equal demand as soloist with major orchestras, his recent collaborators include the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra/Klaus Mäkelä, Munich Philharmonic/Andrew Manze, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra/Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Staatskapelle Dresden/Christian Thielemann and many more. Outside the concert hall, Appl appeared in a film of Schubert’s Winterreise commissioned by the BBC and Swiss television station SRF, offering a unique interpretation of this epic work. He also has presented a series of programmes for BBC Radio 3 entitled ‘A Singer’s World’ and starred in a film ‘Breaking Music’ which celebrates both Argentinian Tango and German Lied traditions.
Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
Gustav Mahler
Jazz Club
Jazz Club