Wolf himself stated that the Italian Songbook is ''the most original and artistically consummate of all my works'' and he told a friend that ''a warm heart, I assure you, beats in the little bodies of my younger children of the south who, in spite of all, cannot deny their German origins. Yes, their hearts beat in German even if the sun shines in Italian.'' Walter Legge, producer of the EMI set in 1966/7, wrote at the time of its issue—a note happily reprinted here—that these love poems are by turns ''ardent, despairing, ironical, malicious, jealous, and occasionally adoring and uniquely tender''. I cite these views to encourage anyone still frightened of Wolf as being 'difficult' to buy one of these sets. They are not only an ideal introduction to Wolf's unique art but are also miraculous miniatures; to quote Legge again, ''a collection of Benvenuto Cellini's smaller masterpieces lit by Vermeer's light''. Whatever you do, don't miss experiencing the pleasure they afford, a pleasure now to be had on a single CD whereas on LP four sides were needed—that's real progress.
That encomium delivered, I find it very hard to decide on which of these delightful sets to recommend. The reviewer is lucky: he can try whichever takes his fancy whenever he likes. The EMI, as I have implied, was a treasured issue on LP. The Orfeo, taken live from a Salzburg recital in 1958, is new to the catalogue. However, Seefried and Fischer-Dieskau, with Werba, did record these songs about the same time for DG, a set long deleted. Both there and here the pair sing the Book in an order of their own devising; the baritone with Schwarzkopf and Moore tackle the Book in the printed order. A few years earlier, Schwarzkopf recorded, also with Moore (Columbia—nla), most of the songs allotted to her in this recording, plus some of those assigned to Fischer-Dieskau too. By and large I prefer her singing on the earlier disc, for it is simpler, less prone to mannerisms, but by only a small margin. To complete the picture, Fischer-Dieskau made his third, now fourth in chronology, recording with Christa Ludwig and Barenboim (frequently offering amazing insights) in the late 1970s for DG (nla).
The EMI version has been considered the definitive reading of the Italian Songbook by the two most experienced and intelligent Wolf singers of their own and indeed any generation, working under the tutelage of Legge, whom we have largely to thank for the popularity and general circulation of Wolf's opus today. With their verbal acuity and superb control of tone and dynamics they bring out all those facets in these songs that Legge refers to. Nothing heartfelt, sardonic, amusing, bored or malicious escapes their penetrating minds, and they are more than worthily supported by Moore's perceptive and sensitively moulded playing. To complete pleasure this set benefits from all Legge's long experience in recording voice and piano: balance and placing are ideal.
So where does that leave the Orfeo issue? Still very much a contender. The sense of a real occasion caught on the wing is palpable, something even Legge couldn't simulate in his 'studio' (actually a Berlin church). It often gives an extra buoyancy to Fischer-Dieskau's singing and in any case here he is less prone to the occasional bursts of over-emphasis that come over him on the later set. Take ''Hoffartig seid Ihr, schones Kind'': at Salzburg in 1958 the climax is suitably impassioned without spilling over into the somewhat forced tone heard eight years later, and there are other examples where I prefer his Salzburg readings, even if the margin of change isn't great, partly because the tone there had even more bloom on it.
Seefried is a much less detailed interpreter than Schwarzkopf. Comparing them in those sharp-edged pieces ''Wer rief ich denn?'' and ''Du denkst mit einem Fadchen'', I find that Seefried—without in the least seeming to under-characterize—is the more natural interpreter. And in the more soft-grained songs assigned to her, that peculiarly plangent tone of hers is most touching. It also encompasses the hurt of ''Was soll der Zorn''. She ends the set with a virtuoso account of ''Ich hab in Penna einen Liebsten'', but Werba comes to grief in the postlude. Werba is often revealing as in the gently marching support to ''Schon streckt' ich aus im Bett'', but he wants Moore's humour in the postlude to ''Wie lange schon''. By and large he is a shade too backwardly recorded. I don't want to make too much of these defects, which are slight, or of the occasional signs of wear on Seefried's singing because the performance as a whole has a forward-moving conviction that makes you eager for each fresh song, each warmhearted reading.
I hope I have made clear the contrasts of these two readings. Ardent Wolfians will need both. Those wanting only one can make the choice between the studio perfection of the EMI and the somewhat flawed, but more spontaneous Orfeo. If you get neither you'll be depriving yourself of a source of infinite pleasure
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