Folksong Settings - Beethoven, Haydn, Weber / Fisc

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau / Karl Engel

One of the greatest joys for a music lover is to discover repertoire that one has not yet heard from a composer whose music one believes one was largely familiar with. Beethoven's folk song settings are truly a treat; this is easily the least familiar and least appreciated realm of his considerable output. What is probably the most striking aspect of these folk song settings is that beethoven wrote far more of these than any other type of composition, having composed an astounding 179 folk song arrangements spanning a period of eleven years from 1809 to 1820. Collected together for the first time - integrally - on cd are fischer-dieskau's much-requested recordings of folk song arrangements. In 1960, he recorded folk song settings by haydn, beethoven and weber (in german).