Schubert: Wandrers Nachtlied I 'Der du von dem Himmel bist', D224 (Wanderers Night Song)

“It comprises 19 songs, all stylishly and beautifully sung by the tenor Werner Güra. The six Goethe settings include such familiar contrasts as Heidenröslein and Ganymed, while Willkommen und Abschied itself, more of a rarity, is heroically sung. The strength of Güra’s tone without any loss of quality has always been his strong point.” Sunday Telegraph, 29th January 2012

“His fresh lyric tenor combines well with Berner’s bright yet warm-toned fortepiano — he twinkles at Goethe’s ironic description of a water nymph as “eine feuchtes Weib”, literally a “damp woman” — while Berner brings drama to the piano parts of Auf der Bruck, Willkommen und Abschied and the haunting, yearning Herbst.” Sunday Times, 12th February 2012

“Berner, playing an 1872 Rönisch fortepiano, shows keen attention to every detail. Güra, outstanding in his unfussy, intense delivery, is a formidable, rousing guide.” The Observer, 26th February 2012

“Gura's strong, unaffected tenor voice is a pleasure to listen to, and Berner, who has an impressive keyboard freedom grounded in reliable technical skill, is a responsive accompanist: they perform as one, although too often their approach to a song somehow misses an essential quality of that particular piece of music.” International Record Review, March 2012 ****

“Gura and his fortepianist, Christoph Berner, have mapped out a trajectory of the Romantic view of human emotional life...At each stage, both musicians show perfect sympathy with Schubert's own engagement, ideal empathy with each other, and a shrewd sensitivity to musical and expressive scale.” BBC Music Magazine, May 2012 *****

“Gura is never dull. 'Der Wanderer' is intensely 'lived', the opening bleak and desiccated...One of the most eloquent performances of all is the last song, 'Nachtstuck'...Here, singer and pianist show an acute sensitivity to harmonic colour that characterises this whole rewarding recital.” Gramophone Magazine, May 2012

“In volume four of Goerne’s Schubert edition, the song selection is still skewed towards the introspective and forlorn. Those moods are perfect for Goerne’s dark baritone...and, always, the elegantly responsive piano of Ingo Metzmacher, better known as a conductor. The pair seem very simpatico.” The Times, 28th November 2009 ****

“Although there are moments when the angst within Schubert's responses to Mayrhofer and the vanished gods could be more biting, Goerne has the measure of the noble declamation of these unique songs. When it comes to the Goethe settings, Goerne excels at recreating the uncanny metaphysical stillness of 'Meeresstille', and of the D224 'Wandrers Nachtlied'. And his final Mayrhofer 'Abschied', taken as slowly as is humanly possible, becomes a valediction of wide spaces and eloquent silences.” BBC Music Magazine, January 2010 ****

“This is a simply unmissable recital, and for two prime reasons - the grave beauty of its programme and the corresponding beauty of the singer's voice. These songs of yearning, essentially spiritual, are very personal, and the imagination never shuts down. The pianist, Ingo Metzmacher, is fully responsive to this, and the recorded sound, of both voice and piano, is warm and vivid.” Gramophone Magazine, February 2010

“The two selections from Heliopolis telescope intimate, personal dramas and larger public spectacle to bewitching effect, Goerne’s lightly burnished baritone liquescently surging and seething against the pointed accompaniment of Ingo Metzmacher...Throughout, Goerne and Metzmacher suffuse these songs with a dark, yearning poetry to discreetly powerful and wholly persuasive effect.” Michael Quinn, bbc.co.uk, 18th December 2009

“It's Maltman's superb breath control which gives shape and sensuous beauty to Debussy and Dupare. And, thanks to Drake's restraining pace, Warlock's Captain Stratton's Fancy' has real swagger. Flanders and Swann's little masterpiece… about the Honeysuckle and the Bindweed, ends the recital in raptuous applause.” BBC Music Magazine, February 2008 ****

“Christopher Maltman… is remarkably skilful in the management of his voice, dealing wonderfully well with Debussy's high tessitura and still plumbing the depths with ease as he does at the end of "Der Wanderer" and "La vague et la cloche". Julius Drake is his perfect counterpart...” Gramophone Magazine, Janurary 2008

“Few discs of favourite Schubert songs match this for sheer beauty...[Bostridge] offers fresh revelation in even the best-known songs” Penguin Guide, 2010 edition ****

“A voice more for Schöne Müllerin than Winterreise, Bostridge's fresh, buoyant, beautifully articulated tenor suits these Lieder perfectly. The literary and musical impulses are in perfect equilibrium, and Drake's rapport is absorbing.” BBC Music Magazine, January 2006 ****

“This superb collection makes the perfect entree into the world of Schubertian song.” Penguin Guide, 2010 edition ****

“Fischer-Dieskau is on top of his form...the spectrum of emotion takes on a new glow as each song begins...A treasurable disc” Penguin Guide, 2010 edition ***