Schubert: Nacht und Träume, D827

“From the first bars of Nacht und Träume it is clear that we are in the presence of two artists in deep sympathy both with the music and with each other...This is a lovely recital, Goerne's intelligence, grace and lack of ostentation giving each song its due, with admirable support from Schmalcz.” International Record Review, January 2011

“his velvet baritone and faultless breath control [are perfectly suited] to the evocation of enveloping physical and existential darkness, and the light of the moon...Goerne compellingly exploits his bass register for the gravedigger's desperation and fear in Totengräbers Heimweh, and vividly characterises the dichotomy between pastoral and military life in Der Schäfer und der Reiter.” BBC Music Magazine, February 2011 ****

“This is a selection of Schubert’s lieder, sung by Matthias Goerne with exquisite artistry.” The Telegraph, 18th February 2011 ****

“The main purpose of this frustratingly fragmentary and unevenly mastered compilation of Lieder treasure seems to be to give a sampler tasting of the young Fischer-Dieskau in the 1950s, with a varied palette of accompanists.” BBC Music Magazine, February 2010 ****

“The voice is again in finest condition, the art wonderfully flexible in its transitions from light-heartedness to the intensity of despair. The Liederkreis songs include a magical "Mondnacht" and a vividly "faced" "Im Walde". The Brahms group opens with Feldeinsamkeit, masterly in control, technical and expressive. The remastered sound is very immediate, sometimes almost uncomfortably so, but the impression is strong, probably ineffaceable.” Gramophone Magazine, December 2009

“…Watt's youthful, radiant delivery, with no flaws in technique that I can hear, fits many of the Lieder like a glove.” BBC Music Magazine, January 2009 ****

“A voice in its first, radiant freshness is always to be cherished in Schubert. Watts is a thoughtful interpreter, too, alive to mood and atmosphere… Crucially, she also brings a measure of innocence and simplicity - not quite the same thing as artlessness - to many of these songs, allied to a technical mastery that allows her to spin a rapt, unblemished line in "Nacht und Träume".” Gramophone Magazine, February 2009

“Hailed as a singer to watch after winning the 2006 Kathleen Ferrier Award and the 2007 Cardiff Song Prize, Elizabeth Watts makes her CD debut with this refreshingly unhackneyed Schubert programme. Perennial soprano favourites – DieForelle, Nacht und Träume, Frühlingsglaube, Suleika – are not shunned. But Watts has alighted on some rarely aired gems. How often in recital do we hear the agitated scena-in-miniature AusDiego Manzanares; or the playfully charming paean to spring Die Blumensprache; or the Novalis setting Marie, where sacred and profane blur in a song of exquisite, rarefied grace? A voice in its first, radiant freshness is always to be cherished in Schubert. Watts is a thoughtful interpreter, too, alive to mood and atmosphere, colouring her tone in response to a darkening of the harmony in, say, Sei mir gegrüsst. Crucially, she also brings a measure of innocence and simplicity – not quite the same thing as artlessness – to many of these songs, allied to a technical mastery that allows her to spin a rapt, unblemished line in Nacht und Träume. Encouraged by Vignoles's buoyant accompaniment, she makes an engaging story-teller in Die Forelle, with an unexaggerated touch of indignation at the angler's treachery; and she sings the mildly salacious refrain song Die Männer sind méchant with just the right wide-eyed mock-pathos.
Quibbles? Well, in one or two songs, including the opening An den Mond, Watts struck me as overly languid. She treats Nähe des Geliebten as an elegiac litany, where, say, Janet Baker, choosing a more mobile tempo and finding greater variety from verse to verse, sings it as a passionate avowal of love. Watts also emphasises melancholy over excited anticipation in Frühlingsglaube and Suleika. Here and elsewhere, Watts under-exploits the expressive potential of German consonants. That said, highlights are lovely performances of Nachtviolen – the high tessitura effortlessly negotiated – or the Mozartian barcarolle Liane: just two songs among many where the vernal purity of Watts's tone and the grace of her phrasing are priceless assets.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Queyras's honeyed tone is breathtaking, while Tharaud's accompaniment is a model of delicacy and thoughtfulness. A ravishing recital.” The Independent on Sunday *****

“a masterstroke of programme planning” Gramophone Magazine

“The aristocratic duo of Queyras and Tharaud give a subtle, serious performance, unusually wide in its range of expression and colour… enjoy the duo's wonderfully imaginative performances, whether in the eerie, evanescent Webern miniatures or Berg's unique mix of yearning Romanticism and Expressionist violence.” The Telegraph

“a really exciting event” Gramophone Magazine

“The most impressive debut disc since Bryn Terfel was a lad” Classic FM Magazine *****

“…a riveting solo debut recital from the young Dutch mezzo Christianne Stotijn… A gust of wind blows this recital in, and blows it out: Stotijn and her robustly proactive accompanist Joseph Breinl start with the raging storms of Schubert's 'Im Walde', and end with Wolf's setting of Mörike's 'Lied vom Winde'. In the Schubert, in particular, Stotijn achieves a rare fusion: she evokes simultaneously both the physical scene and the inner soul-state, which responds to it.” BBC Music Magazine, April 2006 *****

“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 ****