Schumann: Gedichte (12) von Justinus Kerner Op. 35 (Kerner-lieder)

“In his notes Graham Johnson says that what we have always lacked is a convincing way of performing late Schumann songs, often spare in texture and elusive in style. Well, he and Keenlyside seem to have found one here in their wholly admirable versions of the very different Opp 98a and 117. The Op 98a settings of the Harper's outpourings from Wilhelm Meister have always stood in the shade of those by Schubert and Wolf. This pair show incontrovertibly that there's much to be said for Schumann's versions, capturing the essence of the old man's sad musings, as set by the composer in an imaginative, free way, alert to every nuance in the texts.
The extroverted Lenau Husarenlieder could hardly be more different. Keenlyside identifies in turn with the bravado of the first, the cynicism of the second, and the eerie, death-dominated mood of the fourth. The pair enter into the openhearted mood called for by the Knabenhorn settings, most of all in the irresistible 'Der Hidalgo'.
Keenlyside is just as forthright in Die Löwenbraut and in those of Op 35, the well-known Kerner settings, and he brings impressive control to the Eusebius ones, not least the all-enveloping 'Stille Tränen'. The interpretation of this quasi-cycle is convincing and unerringly paced. The recording and Johnson's persuasive playing are superb.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“the sense of a wondering fragile sensibility is communicated to us through his characteristic loving attention to words - and to the presence of his audience. This intimacy of communication and word-liveliness also makes bright vignettes of six love songs, sacred and profane, from Hugo Wolf's Italian Songbook...Williams and Deutsch are alert to every quicksilver mood-change.” BBC Music Magazine, January 2013 ****

“Williams gives consistent pleasure with his rounded high baritone and unexaggerated response to mood and character...Fading into reverie, the Kerner songs are a brave choice to end a recital. But Williams vindicates it with his blanched pianissimo, a wounded, disenchanted spirit withdrawing from the world.” Gramophone Magazine, February 2013

“you can tell that he’s taken considerable trouble to study the poetry and to understand it so that he puts it across to his audience with exceptional intelligence. He also characterises the texts very well indeed..throughout this recital Roderick Williams’s use of his top register is quite superb...This is a marvellous, deeply satisfying lieder recital and we should be thankful that it’s been preserved on disc for a wide audience to savour.” MusicWeb International, December 2012

“Everything about the performances is highly musical; Mammel is a keenly attentive interpreter, both verbally and rhythmically highly articulate” The Guardian, 27th June 2008 ***