Schumann: Was will die einsame Träne, Op. 25 No. 21

“The Austrian baritone opens with an exquisitely gauged Liederkreis, Op 24, full of subtle emotional twists and turns. The rest is a carefully varied selection of settings of words by Heine.” Sunday Times, 3rd May 2009 ****

“Having an accompanist as perceptive and exquisitely musical as Malcolm Martineau is a big asset, these are lieder performances of very high quality indeed.” The Guardian, 1st May 2009 ****

“There is much to enjoy in Boesch's dramatic, intensely "lived" performances, and in the imaginative playing of Malcolm Martineau (ultra-sensitive in Schumann's secretive piano postludes).” Gramophone , Awards 2009

“[Finley] brings eloquence to the text and maturity to his interpretations, but with a still youthful-sounding voice. Darker and more “bassy” of tone than Dieskau, he is especially impressive in the sardonic and bitter songs...Finley is a gripping narrator, too, in the tale of Belshazzar’s feast, and can refine his voice to the most arresting of internalised confidences in the love songs to Clare Wieck.” Sunday Times, 14th September 2008 ****

“Finley is a much less knowing, more direct performer than Fischer-Dieskau, concentrating less on precise verbal nuance (though his German diction is wonderfully clear) than on more generalised expressive contours, but the effect is still overwhelmingly powerful.” Andrew Clements, The Guardian, 5th September 2008 *****

“Doubts as to whether the world needs yet another Dichterliebe are allayed by a performance that probes the extremes of Schumann's evocation of remembered, blighted love. Gerald Finley's burnished baritone is one of the most beautiful voices to have recorded the cycle.” The Telegraph, 6th September 2008

“Finley's performance gives huge pleasure and insight…” BBC Music Magazine, September 2008 ****

“In close collusion with the ever-sentient Julius Drake, Gerald Finley gives one of the most beautifully sung an intensely experience performances on dic of Schumann's cycle of rapture, disillusion and tender regret. This is a Dichterliebe firmly in the past tense, the poet-lover achingly resigned from the outset. Singer and pianist are just as compelling in the other Heine settings here.” Gramophone Magazine, November 2008

“I was transfixed by the sheer artistry... Rarely have I heard so sensitive, intelligent and gloriously musical a partnership... no one could have asked for more attentive, detailed expressions nor more complete harmony of feeling between singer and pianist” The Independent

“Singer and pianist work together almost by instinct in thinking themselves into the very heart of these songs... Holzmair's plangent, very Viennese voice bespeaks the vulnerability that lies at the soul of Robert's Eusebius side, heard to mesmeric effect in the great, slower songs of Op 35, but he is just as capable of tramping the ways with Schumann when he is in his Florestan mood.... [Imogen Cooper's] playing throughout the programme is at once supportive of her partner and individual in itself. The recording is faultless” Gramophone Magazine

“…Brahms's "Von ewiger Liebe" is included as the recital's "title-song" and suits well her sumptuous tone and strong sense of dramatic phrasing. She is especially responsive to Strauss's soprano-flattering lines. The lullaby "Meinem Kinde" is charmingly done, as especially is "Allerseelen", suggesting the manner of the Four Last Songs... Rieger is an eloquent partner in this highly coloured songs.” Gramophone Magazine, December 2009

“The most beautiful soprano voice to emerge in the last decade shows us how affectingly she can scale down from Verdi and lighter Wagner. From Haydn's little prayer, its introduction telling us what kind of hallowed support to expect from pianist Wolfram Rieger, to Beethoven's 'An die Hoffnung' we move into the shadows and back. ...Harteros nobly underlines two very special centres of gravity: Schubert's 'Wehmut', lightened by its vivacious successor, and Brahms's 'Die Tod, das ist die kühle Nacht', inflected with all the luminous and darker tones she is capable of conjuring. An enchanted hour.” BBC Music Magazine, March 2010 *****

"Hendricks' slender, sweet-toned soprano, with its distinctive quick vibrato, is still in fine shape." Gramophone