Debussy: Le promenoir des deux amants

Stella Doufexis has the ability to shape her lucid singing in accordance with the cadence of the language and, with the sensitive support of her accompanist Daniel Heife, to form poems in music that are rich in mysteries and small miracles.

Pierre Bernac used his high baritone voice, a typical baryton Martin, to great advantage in the songs of Poulenc and other French composers but with his flexibility of vocal expression and fine diction was also an outstanding singer of German lieder. This CD also includes songs by Ravel, Chabrier, Debussy and Satie.

The American baritone Barry McDaniel was one of the outstanding singers of the post-war era. As a successful opera singer and Lieder interpreter, he enjoyed a long and eventful career, both in Germany and abroad. Despite numerous performances and many recordings for radio and television, he nonetheless remained largely unnoticed by the media, partly because his name almost vanished in the shadow of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, who was five years his senior. Unjustly so, since the two singers were equals as artists, albeit with different characters. Today, Barry McDaniel is hardly mentioned in specialist literature and one searches in vain for CDs since, until now, recordings from radio archives have not been phonographically processed. However, Audite now presents a première double CD of Lieder sung by Barry McDaniel. These studio recordings from the archives of Radio Berlin-Brandenburg (formally Sender Freies Berlin) were made between 1963 and 1974 with Hertha Klust and Aribert Reimann as accompanists.

This selection of songs by Schubert, Schumann, Wolf, Duparc, Ravel and Debussy reveals diverse facets of McDaniel’s artistic personality. His interpretations are characterised by an interleaving of knowledge and naivety, feeling and craftsmanship, expression and impeccable singing. Apart from his immaculate technique, his accent-free German is particularly remarkable.

Barry McDaniel moved from the USA to Germany in 1953 in order to further his studies. He then gave his first song recitals, together with Hermann Reutter, and later began a career as an opera singer. In 1961 he was engaged at the newly re-opened Deutsche Oper Berlin, where he remained for thirty-seven years. At the same time, he gave guest performances at the Vienna Staatsoper, the Metropolitan Opera New York, the Frankfurt Opera and the Munich Opera Festival, as well as broadcasting for radio and television. In addition, Barry McDaniel gave numerous song recitals, for example in Stuttgart, Karlsruhe, Hanover, Brunswick and Berlin, including, in the latter city, the first ever song recital at the newly built Philharmonie in 1963. Today, the 81-year-old baritone declares: “Whatever I sing, I have to believe in it.” That is exactly how these recordings sound.

Jan Van der Crabben’s art has seduced the most demanding lovers of French melody. This is because, in the line of Bernard Kruysen or José Van Dam, he also has a rich experience as a soloist in baroque and classical music – namely with La Petite Bande and Sigiswald Kuijken – which nourished his musical thinking in a new and refined way. His previous CD with Fuga Libera (FUG510), devoted to Fauré, demanded a follow-up. It is Debussy, whom Van der Crabben serves today with his warm tone of voice, perfect style and pronunciation that we would have liked to submit to the ears and critical mind of Roland Barthes.

In this recital, covering thirty years of creation, dominated by Verlaine and the wonderful Fêtes galantes, the Belgian baritone is ideally accompanied by Inge Spinette, whose delicate colors equal the intelligence of the conception.

Recorded in 1950

Following our successful Mahler and Chopin editions, this is a joint Deutsche Grammophon/Decca Classics unlimited edition with benchmark Deutsche Grammophon and Decca Classics recordings.

All his important works: orchestral (with Pierre Boulez); piano (with Krystian Zimerman, Jean-Yves Thibaudet); opera (Claudio Abbado’s Pelléas et Mélisande); mélodies (with Véronique Dietschy); chamber music (with Arthur Grumiaux, Melos Quartet, Lynn Harrell.

Cap box with new essays and illustrations.