Schumann: Belsazar, Op. 57 (Belsatzar, Belshazzar)

“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 Magazine, Awards Issue 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 Clara 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

“Isserlis's mobile, feeling but never gushing legato lines… Hough's winged, crystalline partnership.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2005

“[Finley] sings Schumann's great song-cycle with much tonal beauty and feeling, above all capturing the deep disillusion of Schumann's inspiration” Penguin Guide, 2010 edition ****

“In close collusion with the ever-sentient Julius Drake, Gerald Finley gives one of the most beautifully sung and intensely experienced performances on disc of Schumann's cycle of rapture, disillusion and tender regret. This is a Dichterliebe firmly in the past tense, the poetlover achingly resigned from the outset. Finley sings the second song, 'Aus meinen Tränen', as if in a trance, and lingers luxuriantly, even masochistically, over the remembered 'Ich liebe dich' in 'Wenn ich' in deine Augen seh''. Yet here and elsewhere some dangerously slow tempi are vindicated by the acuity of his verbal and musical responses. Where most singers end 'Im Rhein' in wistful tenderness, Finley infuses his final words with a wry bitterness. The disenchantment of 'Ich grolle nicht' is already glimpsed. In the cycle's latter stages Finley veers between numb reverie and acerbic self-dramatisation.
The birds' assuaging response in 'Am leuchtenden Sommermorgen' is magical, barely breathed, the mounting trauma of the funereal dream-song 'Ich hab' im Traum geweinet' chillingly conveyed, the dissolving vision of the penultimate 'Aus alten Märchen' relived with ineffable sadness. Adding a cutting edge to his warm, mahogany baritone, Finley imbues the final song with savage irony, before the rueful, healing close. Throughout, Drake's playing is a model of clarity and acutely observed detail (he is more attentive than most to bass-lines), epitomised in his fluid, exquisitely voiced epilogue.
Singer and pianist are just as compelling in the other Heine settings here. The church acoustic is more resonant than is ideal for Lieder, though that hardly detracts from a glorious Schumann recital.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Grotesquerie, beauty, irony, sentimentality and overwhelming passion mingle to breathtaking effect...His in-the-moment honesty is matched note-for-note by pianist Julius Drake, who partners him with a superb sense of drama and detail. It's a recital which can stand comparison with the greatest Schumann recordings.” METRO

“With this recital Christian Gerhaher confirms his pre-eminence in Lieder, and bids fair to equal or surpass his fellow baritones by dint of his attractively warm, firm tone and his complete understanding of the songs. In Dichterliebe he fully enters into the melancholic, romantic world of the rejected lover, projecting the love and sorrow in a committed yet unexaggerated manner. It's hard to imagine a reading by a voice of his kind that could possibly surpass his inspired performance – and that includes even the legendary Fischer-Dieskau.
He makes as good a case as possible for the SixPoems and Requiem, though it's hard to breathe life into the broken-backed ballad that is DieLöwenbraut. On the other hand, Gerhaher arrestingly enacts the melodrama of Belsatzar, biting consonants to the fore; the sadness of Derarme Peter benefits from the same thoughtful approach as Dichterliebe. Huber supports his partner with finely honed playing. The recording could not be better balanced or more immediate.
This is, in every respect, a winner.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Gerhaher's Dichterliebe sets a new standard for intelligent leider singing. Like Olaf Bar, Gerhaher has an impeccable touch with consonants; singing through them and connecting and shaping the subsequent vowels eloquently. His musicality is evident, but the text is pre-eminent. Gerold Huber's accompaniment is equally rewarding; beautifully pitched, fluid playing. An excellent recital.” The Independent on Sunday