What is a "Silcher," one might ask? Some kind of pulpy material used to keep things dry? No, Friedrich Silcher was a German composer and a devotee of the great Swiss composer and humanist Hans-Georg Nägeli. Like Nägeli, Silcher built choruses that specialized in expert singing of German-language folk songs and created a large amount of material for such groups to sing by way of arrangements. Silcher's folk song arrangements are skillful, competent, and anonymous and, in the ears of native German listeners, will be mostly indistinguishable from the "real thing." Christophorus' Friedrich Silcher: Berümte Deutsche Volkslieder is the second CD issue of an analogue album made in 1975 by the Männerchor Teisendorf; it is included in the budget Entrée reissue series. The recording is OK, and if one is not too picky when it comes to Volkslieder, it will be fine. However, pickier ears will find fault with the sense of pitch observed by this choir, which begins to sink as each piece progresses.
All of the texts are included, in German with no translations, and these reveal Silcher as a man of some considerable literary tastes; he set his folk tunes to works of Heinrich Heine, Albert Graf Schlippenbach, and other prominent German authors. One major concern, however, is that the booklet contains not a word of biography or background on the composer. That being the case, his name might just as well be "silica gel." ~ Uncle Dave Lewis, All Music Guide
