TRACKLISTING
1 Un cor sì tenero (Corrodino) Il disertore Haydn
2 Spann’ deine langen Ohren La vera costanza – List und Liebe Haydn
3 Tergi i vezzosi rai (Nettuno) Acide e Galatea Haydn
4 Dice benissimo (Lumaca) La scuola de’ gelosi Haydn
5 Männer suchen stehts zu naschen, K433 - Mozart
6 Ich möchte wohl der Kaiser sein, K539 - Mozart
7 Nach der welschen Art (Nardo) La finta giardiniera Mozart
8 Mentre ti lascio, K513 - Mozart
9 Così dunque tradisci … Aspri rimorsi atroci, K432 - Mozart
10 Un bacio di mano, K541 - Mozart
11 Hai già vinta la causa … Vedrò mentr’io sospiro (rev.1789, ed.Raeburn) Le nozze di Figaro Mozart

The distinguished German baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau celebrated his 80th birthday on 28 May 2005. Fischer-Dieskau’s career started in 1947 when he sang in Ein deutsches Requiem at Freiburg, and in 1948 his opera career began in his native Berlin when he sang Posa (Don Carlos). Fischer-Dieskau is one of the greatest interpreters of lieder and has recorded a huge amount of this repertory (mainly for DG).

His operatic roles are equally numerous and his range of repertory extends from Mozart roles through to twentieth-century pieces such as Hindemith’s Mathis, Berg’s Wozzeck, Henze’s Mittenhofer (a role he created), and Reimann’s Lear. Fischer-Dieskau also sang in the world premiere of Britten’s War Requiem and the subsequent Decca recording; he also recorded Britten’s Songs and Proverbs of William Blake (with Britten as pianist).

While a large number of Fischer-Dieskau’s recordings are on DG he has participated in a number of other important recordings for Decca: Das Lied von der Erde (Bernstein); Die Zauberflöte (Solti); Tosca (Maazel); Shostakovich Symphony 14 (Haitink) and Michelangelo Sonnets (Ashkenazy); several Verdi and Wagner operas.