V0362. PETER PEARS & BENJAMIN BRITTEN: Winterreise (Schubert). (England) Decca 289 466, recorded 1963, Kingsway Hall, London. Out-of-print, Final Sealed Copy! - 028946638224

CRITIC REVIEW:

"...the superlative quality of the performance [merits this] one of the classics of the gramophone era.

Pears as a singer of Britten, that’s one thing; Pears as a singer is another. His association with Britten – so close that his voice seems to be written into the music composed for it – gives him a unique position among all the singers of his time and ours. In as far as there can be a definitive performance of anything, his performances of the songs and in the operas and other large-scale works by Britten are what the composer wanted. There are other ways of singing Britten, but this is 'his' voice, and it sounds infallibly right. Even the instrumental parts can sound as though written with Pears in mind. The identification is uncannily complete."

- GRAMOPHONE