A mono recording of a beautiful work by Brahms, sung by one of the best singers of the last century. This is his first recording of the work, made in 1949. Young Dietrich was just 24 years old, but he sings like he understands these profound texts about love and death.
Maybe it was his war experiences that made him so. He served his country during the Second World War, and was captured by the Americans in 1945. Both as a soldier and as a POW he was entertaining German soldiers with his singing.
He worked with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and specialised in Lieder and opera. His voice is a baritone, but this Brahms work is for bass, which fits him as well. As far as I know he was under contract with Deutsche Grammophon, producing a copious amount of records. He died in 2012 on the eve of his 87th birthday.
This 10” gatefold has a little note attached, about how to care for a record. As is my custom, I add it for reference. It is in four languages, and looks like this.
Plastic records! In 1956 most records were probably still made from shellac.