And what unity is to be had, at a time when orchestras are dying out, and when opera houses are about to close their doors; what's going to come next - when nothing new in music, for the orchestra, is truly lasting: pieces are performed once, and then they're thrown away.

Recording an astonishing array of repertoire (spanning centuries) as musicologist Alan Blyth asserted "No singer in our time or probably any other has managed the range and versatility of repertory achieved by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. His recordings of Winterreise with accompanist Gerald Moore and Jörg Demus are still critically acclaimed half a century after their release.