Here's another recommendable version of Die schone Mullerin to add to those already in the catalogue. For many years it stood as one of the few readings available by a tenor and to be treasured for the many insights provided by a partnership that filled every attribute of that word. The performance had been honed over several years' practice on the recital platform and was wisely caught by Decca when both artists were at the height of their careers. In so many ways, Britten probed into the processes of his fellow-composer as in the ineffable pathos with which he plays the prelude to the tenth song, a hushed pp, and so much thereafter as the boy's hopes fade into despair; and it's in that latter part of the cycle that Pears's interpretation, a trifle self-conscious to start with, becomes so unforgettable in its accents, reaching a poignant climax, appropriately enough, in ''Der Muller und der Bach'' where the variety of dynamics and verbal accentuation are enviable.
This version will always have an important and honoured place in the discography of the work. Today it faces severe competition from the overwhelming Schreier/Schiff reading (Decca) and the fresh, unaffected Pregardien/Staier (Deutsche Harmonia Mundi). There's probably room for all three in any overview of the work—and this one has the advantage of being at mid-price and having three extra songs, recordings that have had a limited circulation. The disc is enhanced by the delicacy of Der Einsame and An die Laute, the latter challenging the Rolfe Johnson account in the Hyperion Schubert Edition: a perfect miniature.'