This is my favorite singer interpreting my favorite song cycle - Gerard Souzay, accompanied by Dalton Baldwin in Schubert’s Winterreise, recorded in 1959 (HMV). It is an LP dub of a recording that has never been released on CD. I have searched for this LP for years, a friend had told me that it existed and I looked for it everywhere. Souzay has recorded the work again only a year later for Philips, but I did not like that recording at all. The sound quality is good for a recording of this age; I have cleaned up the original transfer a bit. If anyone is interested, here is the link (2 zipped folders, flacs):
mediafire.com/12846SchubWR
Here is some background information on this remarkable singer, in case anyone is interested:
bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Souzay-Gerard.htm
and the obituary:
collup.com/Perfect/souzayobit.html
The latter article quotes Fischer-Dieskau in a statement implying that Souzay may be better in French melodies, while Dieskau himself takes precedence as an interpreter of lieder. I don’t agree. I have never enjoyed a single Fischer-Dieskau recording quite as much as Souzay’s early recordings. With Fischer-Dieskau I always get the impression that he wants to “teach” the listener something - overemphatically underlining certain words (I often find this distracting - as if we did not notice anyway…). Souzay’s approach is more natural, his emphasis is on the music rather than the words; and the voice of the young Souzay is in my view (and I’m not the only one) one of the most beautiful voices of the last century. This recording may be the last one where his voice can be heard in its prime (well, the earliest recordings may feature an even more beautiful timbre, but then in my opinion the only rival to Souzay’s bariton as heard in this Winterreise may be his earlier self).
thank you! I’ve wanted this for a while.
You’re welcome! hope you like it.
BTW, if anyone prefers to listen to the original transfer, I can upload that one as well. There is quite a bit of background noise on the original transfer, but if one prefers to listen to the recording at a high volume the original sounds better.
This is a beautiful Winterreise. I would appreciate if you could post the original rip. I have a feeling this might become my favourite set 
Glad you like it! Just tried to upload the original transfer, but the upload takes ages. Will try again later and if I don’t succeed then, after the weekend.
“A most important thing in art is sincerity. I am completely open about my thoughts; I loathe posing. I have made my career with a minimum of publicity, and I don’t regret it. I did it for music’s sake, and it gives me pleasure. Over the years we come to understand the cheapness and non-viability of anything that is not genuine and true. The thought of one’s own death creates a feeling of urgency toward the essentials in life and art."
I detect an epic amount of win…
what do you mean by “epic amount of win”?
That’s wonderful. Sounds like something Brahms would say.
Wonderful quote. Thanks for this set, Raisha. Really looking forward to this one. SDC has been amazing recently.
Your’re welcome! Randomly, what is the best program for removing hiss and crackles from recordings? I think this recording sounds quite good, but there are other cases where I have not been successful. And another question - does not relate to this recording, but I don’t know where to raise it: is there a way to remove coughs from live recordings? I find that many of the best live recordings are full of coughs 
Thanks. I took your original transfer and did some quick work on it.
Wow!!! Just started listening to your cleaned up version - absolutely marvelous!! Thanks very much. The voice comes through even more beautifully than before and the piano also sounds much better.
I’m glad you like it. 
Many, many, many thanks–it sounds glorious.
This is a phenomenal Winterreise. & Thanks also to Chris.
Dear iamcanadian,
is it possible that you post the flac again?
i am a new member here and missed the chance to download.
Thank you very much and best regards,
Rudi
I can also re-up, but I’ll need some time. I’ll probably manage to upload the file within the next week.