One of the wonders of the age was the full house which invariably assembled at London’s Festival Hall when the Schwarzkopf/Fischer-Dieskau/Moore combination gave a programme devoted to the songs of Hugo Wolf. But I often wondered how many in the audience had arrived to hear the Italian Songbook in the pleasant expectation of sunny tunes which were not to be forthcoming. The writer of the introductory notes to the present recording comments on the melodiousness, accessibility and attractive brevity of the songs, and that is probably true of five or six; but the complete collection is another matter. The brevity of each means that (for a non-German speaking audience especially) concentration needs to be unremitting. The “accessibility” can hardly extend to an appreciation of detail; and I doubt whether “melodiousness” would be a word on most people’s lips as they emerged from a recital of all 46.

The ordering of the 46 can make a big difference. Here, they are grouped so that (roughly) we start with the lovers getting along well with each other, then (at greater length) quarrelling, and finally making peace. Particularly effective is the almost sublime reconciliation of “Wir haben beide lange Zeit geschwiegen” and “Sterb’ ich, so hüllt in Blumen meine Glieder”. But oh dear, it’s a long stretch of provocation, pertnesss and blazing fury before we get there.

And, importantly, whether in the voices themselves or some hard-toned recording, these voices have little that endears them to the hearing. Prégardien ranks among the most respected artists of our time and often he sings here with vivid expression in terms of verbal intelligence – though not, if one may put it thus, with the face, where there’s something curiously inert. His partner, Julia Kleiter, sounds very well when she sings softly but too quickly becomes edgy and uneven. The pianist, Hilko Dumno, makes a strong impression and I cannot remember ever having heard the fearsome postlude to “Ich hab, in Penna” played with such panache. But afterwards I played sequences from five other recordings, and each of them, I’m afraid, with more enjoyment than this.