Schwerer Kreuzer Prinz Eugen

Nearly all of Loewe's most popular ballads are included in this collection, sung by a voice that is admirably suited to them, and interpreted by an intelligence that dramatizes each song grippingly without the need to inflect every emotive word. Quasthoff's baritone has a rich and sonorous extension into the bass range, a broad palette of vocal colour (so he can personify the child, the father and the sinister wraith in Erlkonig or act out the fraught colloquy of Edward without ever ceasing to sing) and it is a voice that can touch lightly or sing quietly without losing tone.

The German baritone Hermann Prey was born in Berlin in 1929. In a career that spanned some 48 years, he became one of the most popular singers of his time and formed a great bond with his audiences through his unaffected and natural style of singing and his personal charm and acting ability. His repertoire was extremely wide and encompassed all the classic German Lieder, as well as a whole range of operatic roles from the lively Figaro of both Mozart and Rossini to more serious baritone parts in Verdi and Wagner, although it is in the lighter roles that he is most affectionately remembered. He enjoyed great success in the world's major opera houses including Vienna, Bayreuth, Salzburg, Munich, Milan and New York, and also appeared frequently on German TV and in opera films. He died in 1998.