Fritz 17

Stories about Wunderlich's meteoric rise to success, his incredibly heavy workload or his seemingly effortless acquisition of new repertoire have been told again and again - sometimes painting an idealized and sometimes a distorted picture of the artist. The nine installments of the SWR retrospective that have been released by SWR CLASSIC to this day feature Fritz Wunderlich as a singer of songs, (an unequalled) Mozart tenor, a brilliant interpreter of the greatest tenor hits, a fascinating singer of operettas and as a tasteful interpreter of light music, to name but a few of the genres that made up his repertoire.

From 1957-1973 Werner recorded 55 of Bach's church cantatas as well as the St. John and St. Matthew Passions, the Christmas, Easter and Ascension Oratorios, the B minor Mass and the motets. MusicWeb stated, 'Werner's pacing of the (St. Matthew Passion) and his vision of it is compelling. The drama moves inexorably forward and the entire story is most movingly related.'

…Wunderlich's extraordinary singing is reason enough to buy the set. His bravura 'Finstre Furien' in particular is a marvel … No modern specialist sings Handel's divisions so easily and accurately, and most of his current rivals don't even have half of his voice … the mono sound is excellent, crisp and detailed…