CD Liner Notes

[Chris]

CD liner notes range from the interesting and useful to the absolutely pointless. I always read all the liner notes in hopes of learning interesting things that shed some light on the music. Discussing the historical significance and development of the work is great and often helps to increase your understanding of the music. But when they "analyze" the music...what is this? "The rousing Allegro in common time is followed by a graceful Andante in the dominant, and the piece is rounded out by a thrilling movement in rondo form." OK... This tells me nothing. All that is is describing the piece in words in the most general possible way. I don't need to read this. I just listened to it. This is nothing but a waste of my time. And while you're at it, it's nice to have a few lines about the artists, but I do not need to know every single school they went to, every conductor they've worked with, every country they've given concerts in, every music festival they've been to, every recording they've made, and every prize they've won. It's not a resume. Or so I say.

My question to you is - what do you think about CD liner notes? Do you read them? What kinds of things do you like to see them contain? What things do you find useless?

And with the Internet now, do think it is even necessary to have liner notes? Would you rather leave out a lot of printed material and save a few dollars on your CD purchases, or do you like to have a hard copy of some relevant information right there with the CD? If it wasn't included, do you think you would research the pieces of music you buy on the Internet (or in books), or do you think you probably wouldn't bother?

[Peter]

Of greatest interest to me is the historical context of the piece and I agree liner notes are not the place for detailed musical analysis.

[Sorrano]

For me it depends on the author. Sometimes the performer writes things and I find that to be interesting. On some of the newer music we often can read the composer's thoughts about the music. I do generally find something informative and at least I take a look at the notes.

[Michael]

The liner notes that came with each volume in the DGG "Complete Beethoven Edition" are the best I have ever seen. Beautifully printed booklets with many colour reproductions and extended notes by such experts as Robert Simpson and Barry Cooper. DGG excelled themselves in this edition.

[Chris]

Yes, it's too bad it is mostly out of print again. I have a few volumes of it - the Misc. Chamber Works and the Secular Vocal Works, and they are very nice. Fortunately the Folksong Settings box was rereleased as a "Collector's Edition" (with different packaging and notes, though). I always wanted the Lieder set. I did find an "Arkiv" reprinting of it that, while it contains (somewhat low quality versions of) the original packaging and artwork, actually comes on CD-Rs instead of true CDs, and I am not confident in those holding up over time. I can't believe there is no currently in-print set of Beethoven's complete Lieder. Criminal.

[Michael]

I can't believe there is no currently in-print set of Beethoven's complete Lieder. Criminal.

I have about four different "complete" Lieder sets and only one booklet that gives the English translations - the DGG. The first set I ever bought was by Hermann Prey on the Cappricio label. It gave all the song texts in German. As a result, I was familiar with all of the lieder but I didn't have a clue what the hell they were singing about until the DGG edition came out ..... five years later.

[Chris]

Do you find the performances superior on the DGG version?

[Michael]

Do you find the performances superior on the DGG version?

If I had to keep only one set, I would go for the Hermann Prey/Leonard Hokanson set which, I think, is very fine indeed. The DGG set is a bit of a mixed bag. It contains all of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau's/Jorg Demus's recordings which are extremely good and also I like Peter Schreier's contributions, but the "female" songs are absolutely ruined for me by the off-key singing of Adele Stolte. Also, most of the lesser songs are farmed out to other singers who just seem to rattle through them.
On the Capriccio set, Pamela Coburn does a magnificent job on the "female" songs and Hermann Prey sings all the rest, beautifully accompanied by Leonard Hokanson. A small choir is also used in some of the songs, which in the case of "Urian's Voyage Round the World", breaks the monotony of the choruses.
However, if I had to recommend a single disc of Beethoven Lieder, I would go for a selection by Peter Schreier and Andras Schiff. The singing and playing are ravishing - especially in "Adelaide" and the song-cycle "An die ferne Geliebte". There are 23 of the best-known lieder on this well-filled disc, which also contains full English translations.
I bought it many moons ago and I don't know if it's still available. It was on Decca 444 817-2.
(The name of the CD is "An die ferne Geliebte".)

[Joy]

I do enjoy reading the notes and like Peter I find the historical parts to be the most interesting so, yes, I do read them and find them useful.