This is the second volume of the first complete recording of the songs of Hugo Wolf. All the works are performed by internationally renowned lieder singers and were recorded live at the Oxford Lieder Festival. Sholto Kynoch is the founder and director of the festival and is in demand as a chamber musician and song accompanist.
“As the palette of voices is varied, Kynoch is able to group the Lieder thematically without risking tedium...Gilchrist alert to [the songs'] volatility and drama; Daneman capturing every elusive and sensuous breeze of emotion and tale-telling; Grevelius discovering the inner angst darkening the songs; and Loges the Sehnsucht of late-Romantic yearning.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2011 ****
“[Kynoch] is among the finest accompanists around. Sophie Daneman’s bright soprano is always a pleasure to hear but here she is not always ideally steady and her vibrato is at times too prominent. Her floated pianissimos sometimes make me forgive some of the unsteadiness...Best of all, to my mind, is Anna Grevelius. Her voice is a flexible instrument, beautiful and even from top to bottom, and with a wide range of nuance and expressivity.” MusicWeb International, June 2012
“The four excellent singers...show a vivid understanding of the texts (translated in helpful CD notes by Richard Stokes). Sholto Kynoch steers the performances with secure, expressive playing, especially in dark moods – "Der Jäger" (Gilchrist) – or in the sardonic wit of the last song, "Abschied" (Loges).” The Observer, 9th October 2011
