# Hugo Wolf



## NLAdriaan (Feb 6, 2019)

Hugo Wolf, a hero of song, a bit overwhelmed by Schubert in popularity perhaps?

What do you think of Wolf's music and on the available recordings?

Let's shine some light on Hugo!


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## david johnson (Jun 25, 2007)

I have not heard much of his music, but greatly enjoyed what I heard. I remember analyzing some of his stuff in college theory class.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Nobody did more for the cause of Wolf after WWII than Schwarzkopf and Fischer-Dieskau. These are probably essential.





































Nowadays some find their approach too sophisticated and detailed. I find it intelligent and brilliantly characterised.


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## NLAdriaan (Feb 6, 2019)

GregMitchell said:


> Nobody did more for the cause of Wolf after WWII than Schwarzkopf and Fischer-Dieskau. These are probably essential.
> 
> Nowadays some find their approach too sophisticated and detailed. I find it intelligent and brilliantly characterised.


I fully agree and I got to know a lot of Wolf's Lieder thanks to these two great singers. However, I also believe that since then there are other interpretations that I find more convincing. Peter Schreier is to me just a great storyteller in Wolf. There are a few solo records of him (Morike (Orfeo) and some Goethe Lieder (Eurodisc, with Wolfgang Sawallisch on piano)) and the Italian Songbook jointly with Felicity Lott (Hyperion).

Also the Italian Songbook with Mojca Erdmann and Christian Gerhaber is convincing. Listen to Mojca Erdmann in 'Auch kleine Dinge konnen uns entzucken' and compare it with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf or DFD (both recorded this particular song). In Wolf, I always think that it is really is about incredible details that make all the difference. No other Lieder composer offers the same refined oeuvre, yet so close to everydays life. And ES and DFD are in a way from another era, but still they will always offer a wealth in these songs, to which you can return.

I also appreciate the Morike lieder sung by Werner Gura, with beautiful piano by Jan Schultsz 








Finally, I regret that Richter has recorded Wolf songs with DFD and not with Peter Schreier. Richter and Schreier have made a wonderful Winterreise and in the Wolf recordings with DFD, I adore the piano playing by Richter, but it doesn't blend naturally with DFD's singing.

But al in all, there is more than enough to enjoy. I really love Wolf's songs. Mentally ill as he has become, it is incredible that he left us with such refined music, unparalleled.


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## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

Loved him. The most exalted poetry with incredible subtlety, complexity, and nuance in melody and accompaniment... Hugo Wolf... the Lieder of the Pack.


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## jenspen (Apr 25, 2015)

I have probably already raved sufficiently about the songs of Hugo Wolf in this forum in the past so I'll try to confine myself to agreeing that "_In Wolf, I always think that it is really is about incredible details that make all the difference. No other Lieder composer offers the same refined oeuvre, yet so close to everydays life_" and "_The most exalted poetry with incredible subtlety, complexity, and nuance in melody and accompaniment_."

Wolf also attracts the most subtle and literate singers. Though the competition among his interpreters is fierce, Fischer-Dieskau's 1958 recording of the Mörike Lieder provides my favourite example of Wolf's multi-faceted, compact brilliance. Just one of its many glories:


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## Barbebleu (May 17, 2015)

Up there with Schubert, Brahms, Schumann and Strauss in the pantheon of supreme lieder composers imho.


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