17. - 28. Robert Schumann - Liederkreis, op.39 [24'13]
Olaf Bar- baritone and Geoffrey Parsons- piano
EMI CDC7473972 (recorded July 1985; CD issued 1986)
(flac and scans)
Recording venue: Not disclosed
Recording engineer: Stuart Eltham; Producer: David R Murray
I was surprised to find that this recording may not be posted elsewhere so here it is at the request of a fellow music blogger.
This performance by the young lyric baritone, Olaf Bar, in one of his first recordings was rapturously received when first issued in 1986. Hilary Finch in Gramophone'sBest Records of 1986, wrote "Olar Bar's Schumann, eagerly awaited after his London recital, is still warm with the immediacy of a first encounter; all trace of musical cliche in Dichterliebe is eradicated as Bar's supple baritone listens acutely both here and in Eichendorf's Liederkreis to every verbal and harmonic cue."
Personally, I'm not so enthusiastic nowadays, preferring a lighter touch - but they are undoubtedly dramatic performances. I also find the recording rather close-up.