For the first time on CD, recordings made between 1959 and 1984 by one of the 20th century's most questing and influential singers -- Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. Many songs by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven remain surprisingly little known, and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau explores them in the company of superb and familiar accompanists. With Aribert Reimann joining him for intoxicating early Schoenberg and Berg, these four discs present an opportunity for discovery and rediscovery. * Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau was born in Berlin on May 28, 1925. To many, he was considered the greatest lieder-singer of the 20th century, setting new standards and influencing a whole generation. He was greatly admired for his interpretive insights and the noteperfect control of the tonal qualities and shadings of his voice. He was notable, too, for his exceptional rhythmic sense and incisive diction (sometimes, critics asserted, at the expense of an ideally smooth legato vocal line). Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau ended his more than 45 years of concert activity at the beginning of 1993. He made his unannounced farewell to public performance with his participation in a gala concert at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich on December 31, 1992. Since that time he has kept himself fully occupied as a teacher, conductor, reciter and author.