Toward the end of his life, one can sense that he was no longer thinking his way into the minds of others, causing them to speak on his behalf, but that he was now speaking for himself.

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.