Mythos

"You won't actually find Einzug der Gladiatoren in this newly released collection ... However, no reason to ignore this new Marco Polo CD, for it actually turns out to be something of a ground-breaking release ... While the marches are brisk and to the point, the disc's six waltzes are, though to varying degrees, longer and more substantial ... The remaining pieces are equally attractive and effectively display Fučík's musical expertise, albeit within the somewhat limited range in which he chose to work ... Czech Chamber Orchestra Pardubice, by my count it is made up of 36 players and that turns out to be a perfectly reasonable number to perform these attractive works ... The Pardubice players bring a welcome and often appropriate degree of extra transparency and - as in the polkas françaises - delicacy to their own scores ... This new and well-engineered release ... certainly does Julius Fučík proud".

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"Vurdering: Ugens cd" - "Den tyske sanger Mathias Goerne ... er den bedste til sit fag: At synge lieder, dvs. tyske sange med klaver ... Hvis du vil høre, hvor smukt og hvor gribende den slags kan gøres, så lyt til Mathias Goerne på Ugens Cd".

"I was immediately taken by the beauty of Appl's voice, the sensitivity of his phrasing and the sense of controlled power behind the voice ... The power of these songs can be very great ... However, Appl also excels in a gentler mood ... I could go on, but this is enough to make the point. Appl is an excellent artist, and the orchestrations are well done and rewarding. I should add that Oscar Jockel and the Munich Radio Orchestra provide sensitive support. The recording is excellent. If this had included the texts, I would have recommended it enthusiastically".

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"He shows his mettle from the very beginning with his beautiful singing of Abendstern, and then song after song unfolds with unerring expertise ... As a bonus, we get two handfuls of German dances in orchestral arrangements by Johann von Herbeck, spread out between the songs. They are brief, melodious and charming. The Münchner Rundfunkorchester plays both the songs and the dances excellently under the young conductor Oscar Jockel, and the recording cannot be faulted. Readers interested in the idea of hearing Schubert's songs with orchestral accompaniments can safely invest in this issue - and be sure that the singing of Benjamin Appl is first class".

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"Although I enjoy Schubert's Lieder, they not my normal listening ... This remarkable recording, a great account of seventeen (mostly very popular) numbers, made me sit up and really listen ... I enjoyed this recital. Mathias Hedegaard's well-rounded tenor reaches comfortably down into the baritone range. He can capture the mood of these songs, with all their varied emotions. Tove Lønskov ably assisted him with the sensitive accompaniment".

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"Recommended: I honestly didn't know what to expect when I received this album. Of course, orchestrating Schubert songs is nothing new ... I feel, though, that Alexander Schmalcz's efforts are as successful as any I've heard - and rather more successful than some ... Inevitably, I've focussed on the orchestrations in this review, but I hope I've said sufficient about the singing of Matthias Goerne to make it clear that he is on top form throughout this album ... A revelatory album".

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"Recording of the week: Schmalcz's orchestrations never seek to gild the lily or to push the singer into a more operatic form of delivery - textures are beautifully uncluttered, leaving Goerne free to sculpt and colour phrases with the utmost subtlety and intimacy ... In his insightful booklet-note Goerne writes affectionately of Schubert's ability to strike 'a perfect balance between intellectuality and the greatest naturalness', and that same equilibrium is evident in every phrase of the performances here".

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"There can be no argument with the statement that Carolyn Sampson is one of the great singers of our time, and many, including myself, have longed to hear a Schubert recital on disc. Expectation can often lead to disappointment, but not so here. This is a wonderful recording, demonstrating from both performers their customary probing intelligence and sensitive insight. Carolyn Sampson is blessed by the rare combination which blends such thoughtfulness with beauty of voice and diction ... If this does not figure highly as a disc of the year, there is no justice. It is one that will move the listener beyond admiration to love".

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"Vurdering: Ugens album" - "Sammen med den engelske pianist Malcolm Martineau har Florian Boesch tidligere indspillet de tre store sangcykluser af Schubert: Die schöne Müllerin, WInterreise og Schwanengesang. Nu følger de op med et blandet album af enkeltstående sange ... Florian Boeschs stemme har en silkeblød skønhed, hans fraseringer er raffinerede og udtrykket ofte underdrevent. Schuberts lieder får en intim karakter, som de utvivlsomt også var tiltænkt".

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"So much here is highly enjoyable ... Boesch has an intrinsically beautiful tone, his diction is exemplary, his control masterly and his dynamic gradations smooth as silk ... Malcolm Martineau's accompaniment is as fleet, elegant and sensitive as you could wish".

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" Den argentinske mezzosopran Bernarda Fink har en stemmetype, der er på mode i øjeblikket: let og bevægelig, lys og noget kølig i klangen ... Og når hun synger Schubert, er det den svævende ynde og den fine fornemmelse for teksten der er hendes styrke, hvorimod hun i nogen grad kommer til kort i de mere dramatiske sange ... Hendes pianist er tyskeren Gerold Huber, og han spiller smukt og karakterfuldt, også i de melodramatiske sange".

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"Performances have the right nexus of intelligence, deep study and ion-performance inspiration ... [Bostridge] supplies textual articulation and emotional heat but leaves more specific characterisation up to Drake at the piano".

"Vurdering: Editor's choice" - "Superlative recital by a singer who for vocal beauty, poetic insight and expressive immediacy is surely unsurpassed in lieder today".

"Recording of the month - Editor's choice: An enchanting, engrossing and impeccably recorded album. With it, Krimmel takes another big step towards quietly establishing himself as one of the most compelling lieder interpreters performing today. A gem".

"Vurdering: IRR outstanding" - "Camilla Tilling is a Swedish singer whose enchanting soprano voice and acute musical intelligence are both admirably deployed in this wellchosen selection of Schubert songs, some very familiar and some much less often performed ... This is a lovely disc, a treat for all lovers of Schubert's songs".

"Camilla Tilling's vernal tone is fresh and smiling, her phrasing both shapely and feurig, as Schubert demands, her respons to mood and harmony vivid ... A Schubert recital of rare pedigree".

"Vurdering: Diapason d'or" - "On a le coeur serré de voir se terminer bientôt une si belle aventure".

"This is a constantly interesting collection of songs, wonderfully performed".

"Vurdering: Editor's choice" - "An exhilarating recital from this superb Lieder singer".

"Vurdering: IRR outstanding" - "Two things make this a most desirable disc for lovers of Lieder. The first is the singer. Matthias Goerne's warm baritone and inward, meditative approach, particularly to Schubert, give an enganging freshness, almost an impression of tentativeness to each interpretation. The second is the choice of songs. This recital of 19 mostly unfamiliar songs from all periods of Schubert's short career illustrates musically in many different ways the longing for something lost".

"Matthias Goerne is fast becoming the Fischer-Dieskau of his generation, the stadnard-setting singer of the central Lieder repertoire. This recording of 43 miscellaneous Schubert songs on two discs with a different accompanist on each is a treasure of interpretative fidelity to the greatest of all Lieder composers".

"Vurdering: Editor's choice" - "Goerne gives us performances of profound grandeur, mystery and compassion".

"The baritone's voice, not a large, juicy or powerful instrument, is helped by the engineers (in performance, balance can be a major issue with these arrangements), allowing us to hear plenty of detail; he has a fine way with the words and is an intelligent, sensitive communicator ... Plenty to like here".

"Editor's choice: A lot of thought has gone into this lovely album ... Immediately one is struck by the high quality of Stanislas de Barbeyrac's singing. His interpretations are sensitive and intelligent and his tenor is beautifully controlled - flexible but steely ... Wiebke Lehmkuhl is hardly less fine, her mezzo wonderfully limpid and rich ... Very warmly recommended".

"Vurdering: Gramophone choice" - "His darkly mellow baritone, soft-grained yet with reserves of power, is a perfect instrument for the pantheistic reveries and barcarolles on this new disc ... Even doubters might have to concede that no singer cares more than Goerne for the beauty and eloquence of Schubert's melodies".

"This is a most interesting and instructive Schubert recital, performed throughout with tact and great musical intelligence".

"Vurdering: Diapason d'or" - "Sa sensibilité, l'élégance de ses phrasés servent idéalement l'Andantino quasi allegretto du dernier (1880) - le plus célèbre des trois".

"Singer and pianist show an acute sensitivity to harmonic colour that characterises the whole rewarding recital".

"Of course, one must be willing to enter Bostridge's world, which is now a highly familiar network of interpretative techniques ... He's in excellent voice here and never so heedless as to be mannered ... And then there's Julius Drake, who so clearly charts the progression of Schubert's musical thoughts".

"Vurdering: Editor's choice" - "Watts under-exploits the expressive potential of German consonants. That said, I can't recall lovelier performances of "Nachtviolen" ... or the Mozartian barcarolle "Liane: just two songs among many where the vernal purity of Watt's tone and the grace of her phrasing are priceless assets".

"Vurdering: Editor's choice" - "What distinguishes this recital, however, is the interpretations themselves, bringing freshness to familiar numbers and making a persuasive case for those that are heard less often ... outstanding recital, and a beautifully recorded one too".

"Vurdering: Young artist of the year" - "His instinctive feel for these songs is immediately striking ... You will hear the current front-runner in the next generation of Lieder singers".

"Editor's choice: Richter's pure, vernal soprano, care for words and supple, expressive phrasing are well-nigh ideal ... Der Zwerg and Totengräbers Heimweh are anything but natural territory for a light lyric soprano. Yet in both songs her musical intelligence and dramatic use of the text go far to compensating for a lack of tonal depth. A delectable recital from a young soprano whose combination of vocal freshness and unforced expressiveness make her a natural in Schubert".

"It is the apparent straightforwardness of approach that Mauro Peter and Helmut Deutsch bring to these wonderful songs that help make this collection so enjoyable. The young Swiss tenor's voice, a bright lyrical instrument perhaps more steely than honeyed in its core, is as clean and unaffected as his manner ... For fresh, intelligent and natural Schubert this disc can be heartily recommended".

"For all of her vocal cultivation, personal magnetism and musical intelligence, Miah Persson seems not to he a born recitalist ... That doesn't mean - on the evidence presented on this disc ... that she can't create some compelling performances on her own terms (especially with such a sympathetic collaboration with pianist Roger Vignoles), even if the more intense moments in her chosen repertoire make her force her voice well beyond its comfort zone".

"Here is a trio of fine artists ... Persson is an intelligent performer who well understands the art of Lieder singing ... Persson clearly relishes the possibility of characterizing particular songs ... However - and this is possibly a subjective caveat - what Persson lacks is the kind of rounded warm tone and inner conviction that makes the best Schubert recitals so warmly satisfying".

"Vurdering: Editor's choice" - "Matthias Goerne in his element - and the rewards are uncommonly rich".

"Editor's choice: Given Goerne's vocal timbre, it's no surprise that slow, sombre songs, usually in the minor key, predominate. But his trademark concentration of feeling, allied to Schmalcz's subtly changing colourings, ensures that the attention is held throughout. Unscathed by his Wagnerian forays, Goerne's voice remains mellow and rounded, his sense of style impeccable. Instrumentalists could ... learn from his perfectly bound legato and natural feeling for the shape of a Schubertian phrase".

"Boesch confirms himself as the baritone's answer to pianist Mitsuko Uchida, daring a range of hushed dynamics in Schubert ... In tandem with the ever-perceptive Malcolm Martineau (a model of clarity, and especially good at animating and colouring Schubert's bass-lines), Boesch's concentrated Innigkeit can be haunting, above all in the many songs of loneliness, alienation and sorrowful regret ... This new disc contains many compelling performances".

"Editor's choice: Caroly Sampson and Joseph Middleton are recording so much these days ... Elysium: A Schubert Recital showcases them in core repertoire in a programme themed around songs concerning the afterlife. Authority and intelligence are evident in song choices, sequencing and performance in this somewhat soft-spoken disc that's surely among their best ... Sampson is at her best in the nocturnal 'Nacht und Träume', with a masterly balance of word articulation and legato line ... It seems that the more she records, the better she gets".

"For all the conceptual orientation of the disc, Boesch isn't the sort of singer who tells you what to think or feel in the music ... the repertoire shows the roads that led to the well-known Schubert cycles. Maybe all of that means that this disc's main appeal is to the most serious students of Schubert".

"This fine disc, pervaded with sadness though it is, has a great deal to offer those who love Schubert's songs".