Denis Fodor replies to me:

>>...  Fischer-Dieskau appeared to concern himself with projecting the
>>subtleties of text and finding precisely the right persona for the song.
>>Baker's diction was her weakest point as a singer, and, although her acting
>>convinced you, she defined her characters less sharply.  The beauty of the
>>voice itself, however, and her subtle control over the phrase made these
>>criticisms light as dust and swept them aside.  While I certainly admire
>>and respect Fischer-Dieskau, I love Baker.  She's that kind of singer.
>
>When Fischer-Dieskau sings poetry he brings to the exercise his unexcelled
>craft in enunciating and declaiming while blending this expertly, but no
>more than that, with music.

I think you're a bit hard on F-D.  I tend to like the earlier recordings
better than the later ones, which seem to me mostly about technique.  On
the other hand, I heard him do a shattering live Kindertotenlieder (with
Ormandy conducting the Philly!) somewhere in the 1970s.  Knocked me out.
I also treasure some of his early Faure recordings.

>Janet Baker shines at the reverse, she usurps the poem in the cause
>of music to which she gives blessed voice.  (I noted somewhere that one
>Stephen Schwartz just got an Oscar out there in Hollywood.  Should have
>gone to our Steven!)

Only if I can get to meet Cameron Diaz.

Steve Schwartz