At rising 30, Bar has already won himself an altogether enviable reputation as an interpreter of Lieder: his Wigmore Hall recital in July, which included most of the Morike settings sung here, was a sell-out many weeks before it took placE, and he return next year for the three Schubert cycles; he triumphed in June at the Schubertiade at Hohenems; his two earlier records have been heaped with praise. It is also so reminiscent of the first years of Fischer-Dieskau's career that comparisons between the two are inevitable, yet Bar's records, most of all this latest, show many more dissimilarities are with young Hotter, occasionally with Prey, and further back with Janssen, in, for instance, that wonderful song An die Geliebte, where the simple ecstasy in Bar's tone is very reminiscent of that noble baritone. What is undeniable is the immense promise and already outstanding achievement of the young singer.
There is hardly a more complex task in a Lieder singer's career than interpreting Wolf's songs Morike songs, yet by and large Bar makes light of the difficulties. He seems to have mastered by study or intuitively the problems posed by the poems and the often awkward corners of Wolf's settings. He has, at this early stage of his career, conquered the art of maintaining a firm legato while giving due place to the words and emphasizing important ones with an extra measure of intensity, as with the searing ''Nein!'' in Neue Liebe and the wondering mezza voce at ''heute'' further on in the same song. Then there is the feeling for the mood of a whole song, as in Im Fruhling, its sense of yearning nostalgia perfectly caught, though admittedly fischer-Dieskau has here set an impossibly high standard on both his recordings (sadly unavailable).
Bar is keenly vivid in the less reflective, more outgoing pieces, notably Auf einer Wanderung, with the sense of intoxication in the final couplet ideally conveyed and a smile in the tone throughout. The more rarely heard Auftrag is light, confiding, immediate, utterly captivating. Storchenbotschaft is amusing without the humour becoming heavy-handed. At the other end of the wide range of moods in this unique collection, the irony and mock pathos of Auf einer Wanderung is encompassed without underlining the bitterness (as Fischer-Dieskau is inclined to do). Similarly the over-exposed Nimmersatte Liebe benefits from Bar's slight understatement and the eqully familiar Verborgenheit is sung in a straightforward manner without the glutinous tone sometimes bestowed on it. The Parsifal-like Auf eine Christblume II is sung in just the veiled, withdrawn tone it needs (here the affinity with hotter, though Bar's voice is, of course, much lighter, is most marked).
There are a couple of disappointments. I think the hermetic Peregrina songs are as yet beyong Bar and the final item, Zum neuen Jahr is too emphatically sung. Otherwise these profoundly satisfying readings, at all points subtly seconded by Geoffrey Parsons, are going to yield up hours of pleasure for a long time to come. The recording is faultless, and the LP sides yield up no less than 66 minutes, music. Bravo!'