Pessimist though he was, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau had some warm words to share about two of the present generation of German Lieder singers – Thomas Quasthoff and Matthias Goerne.
Quasthoff was sadly forced to take early retirement this year. So it fell to Goerne to give the memorial concert. You can hear it right here.
From the spoken introduction I’m not sure you’re right about it being “the memorial concert”. The two artists made a completely understandable, possibly inevitable decision – Eschenbach also having worked extensively with D F-D as accompanist – to dedicate this orchestral concert on which they were collaborating – to his memory.
It was indeed a normal 2011/2012 subscription series concert by the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, planned long in advance, which the two artists decided to dedicate to Fischer-Dieskau.