At the moment I own nine Erlkonig recordings: - Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Gerald Moore 1958 - Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Gerald Moore 1966/7 - Christa Ludwig, Geoffrey Parsons 1967 - Anne Sofie von Otter, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Claudio Abbado (Berlioz) 2002 - Christoph Pregardien, Michael Gees 1992 - Thomas Quasthoff, Chamber Orchestra of Europe unter Claudio Abbado (Reger) 2002 - Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Gerald Moore 1966 - Christine Schafer, John Mark Ainsley, Michael George, Graham Johnson 1993/4 - Sarah Walker, Graham Johnson 1989 Which one of these is the best? Erlkonig is a shocker and a recording of it has to shock to be a good recording. The singer and the pianist must have the courage to attack and frighten. The singer has to embody a stoic father, a panicking child and a monstrous child molester. The last role is the most important part of the whole enterprise. Christoph Pregardien and Michael Gees are to my surprise the weakest performers (this surprises me since when I had bought the record and listened to it the first time I found theirs the best Erlkonig of them all). There is no attack, no shock, no fear, no awe. It is a rather lame horse which rides through this Lied and Erlkonig a kind of nice singing wanna-be-scare. Nice and interesting but not very shocking is Graham Johnson's experiment with Erlkonig sung by three singers. His passionate piano playing is the best feature of this recording. John Mark Ainsley is simply not villainous enough, Michael George and Christine Schafer do fine jobs in embodying the stoic father and the panicking child. (An Erlkonig recording is like a James Bond movie: the better the villain the better the movie.) Surprisinly uninteresting: Thomas Quasthoff in the fine Max Reger version of Franz Schubert's Lied. His voice is a marvel but he simply doesn't sound evil enough in this recording. One of the crucial moments of Erlkonig is when the singer-villain has to unmask and sing "so brauch ich Gewalt". In a very good Erlkonig performance this is the moment of the greatest angst. But here nothing happens. Anne-Sofie von Otter (in the fabulous Hector Berlioz setting) gives us a wonderful moment of "so brauch ich Gewalt", without fear of sounding ugly (the uglier this moment sounds the better). But the rest is not that inspiring and the very ending is too theatrical ("das Kind war TOTTTTT") and thus mars an entertaining version. I don't like Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau too much since he explains and acts Lieder more than he sings them but in theatrical Lieder like Erlkonig this is a good artistic concept. His 1958 setting still is somewhat too civil but in 1966/7 he lets himself loose (assisted by ever-reliable Gerald Moore) and gives us a really grim portrait of a pretty sick Erlkonig. This version is slightly better than the Graham Johnson recording with Sarah Walker. Her singing is fine but Graham Johnson's furious pianistic attack is what makes this version a treat (in his Franz Schubert Lieder edition which is the treat of treats for all Schubertians). The two best recording are by Christa Ludwig and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and the pianist in both cases is Geoffrey Parsons. Both versions are pretty short (Christa Ludwig 3:55 and Eliasabeth Schwarzkopf 3:46 - compare this with Christoph Pregardien's 4:18) and furiously attack the listener's ear. Parsons is splendid in both recordings, adding drive and momentum to faboulously reckless singing. Christa Ludwig and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf know no restrictions, they understand that Erlkonig is about madness and frenzy and they fearlessly tell stories from a hysterically gothic world. Elisabeth Schwarzkopf's to me is the better recording since her's the best Erlkonig portrait: her ghost is so sick and so full of pleasure about his own sick wickedness that my hairs stand on end every time I listen to it. This Glenn Glose of singers gave me the best Erlkonig I know (but next week I am to buy Ian Bostridge's first Franz Schubert Schubert CD - I expect a lot). And which are your best Erlkonig recordings? Robert