How interesting to compare, in Dichterliebe, Blochwitz with the newly reissued Wunderlich on DG. Although the younger tenor claims to have been influenced by the older singer's account, they are very different in conception. Blochwitz has the lighter, more flexible voice, but gives the deeper, more immediate reading. At the same time it is more lyrical, more consistently voiced and—most important of all—benefits from an infinitely superior pianist. Indeed, it seems that it's Jansen's commanding, very positive view of his role that gives the pair's interpretation such distinction. You only have to listen to the ideally formed, rippling accompaniment to ''Und wussten's die Blumen die kleinen'' or the buoyant, keenly articulated support in ''Aus alten Marchen'', or the subtly shaped, thought-through postludes to hear how a genuinely re-creative artist can make the piano parts sound anew.
Returning for a moment to the Wunderlich comparison, I note that he and Giesen take ''Ich grolle nicht'' faster, more hectically than Blochwitz and Jansen, as if it were a very present complaint. Blochwitz is more reflective but also more consistent in his line and accents. In two slower songs, ''Hor ich das Liedchen klingen'' and ''Am leuchtenden Sommermorgen'', Blochwitz demonstrates conclusively his superiority with his liquid, flowing performance, beside which Wunderlich sounds stodgy. In comparison with Schreier (Philips) and to a lesser extent Protschka (Capriccio/Target), Blochwitz—like Wunderlich—is a shade less searing. On the other hand, Jansen is here preferable even to Sawallisch (for Schreier) and Deutsch (for Protschka), giving this new version the special frisson of a unified reading. My one complaint, an unusual one, is that the piano is a bit too prominent in relation to the voice, imparting a slight hardness from time to time to the instrument that is certainly not Jansen's fault.
Jansen is also prominent in the Liederkreis, and once again his playing is wholly convincing with that lived-in feeling so essential in this work, which presents many problems for the pianist, all authoritatively solved here. By the side of Protschka and Deutsch, this is a more natural, more forward-moving interpretation, but one that may not probe so deep. For instance ''Wehmut'' is treated in the Capriccio version solemnly, made to seem something like a chorale. The EMI pair approach the song more fluidly, more freely. The contrast in ''Zwielicht'' is even more marked. Protschka and Deutsch sound stiff and metronomic beside the more flexible and more convincing Blochwitz and Jansen. Most of the comparisons point up the same difference. Over the two cycles, the older recording takes no less than 12 minutes longer than the new one, indicative of the contrasts in approach. Whether you prefer Blochwitz's silvery tone over Protschka's more substantial voice is a matter of choice. And, of course, among the baritones, never forget Fischer-Dieskau's masterly reading of Liederkreis for DG. But, as a consistent, securely accomplished and unaffected reading of both cycles, very immediately recorded, the new disc is an attractive proposition, very much all of a piece, a youthful view and, what I may not yet have conveyed, most sensitively and beautifully sung.'