Schubert: Der Fluss, D693

“Sometimes in the more agitated reveries Goerne seems to be musing with himself rather than singing to an audience. However, cloudy intonation usually vanishes when the songs are calm and gentle. The prayerful ecstasy of Im Abendrot is an absolute wonder. Klage, another nature song, isn’t far behind, each word shaped and pitched with the sort of delicacy” The Times, 8th February 2013 ****

“This is a most interesting and instructive Schubert recital, performed throughout with tact and great musical intelligence” International Record Review, February 2013

“Goerne’s latest Schubert recital, mostly comprised of little-known songs, is one of the baritone’s most accomplished...German baritone animates [Erlkönig] with a wonderful range of voices and inflections: his timbre has lost none of its wraparound warmth and depth but is equally capable of tenurial lightness.” Financial Times, 15th February 2013 ****

“With his dark, nutty baritone and powers of characterisation, he is a near-ideal interpreter of Erlkönig; with the sublime Haefliger as his pianist, he revels in the gentler panoramas, too.” Sunday Times, 24th February 2013

“Though often idiosyncratic, his readings are never less than thoughtful – and his original takes on well-known (and less well-known) songs frequently offer intelligent and bold new insight...Goerne and Haefliger rarely seem to break a sweat, an attitude that can sometimes come over as lack of effort...But their refined style demonstrates its own supreme skill, and there is no shortage of illumination and pleasure to be had” Graham Rogers, bbc.co.uk, 13th February 2013

“His darkly mellow baritone, soft-grained yet with reserves of power, is a perfect instrument for the pantheistic reveries and barcarolles on this new disc...even doubters might have to concede that no singer cares more than Goerne for the beauty and eloquence of Schubert's melodies” Gramophone Magazine, March 2013

“The narrative songs are perhaps the most convincing of all. Erlkönig crackles with excitement: the thrill of the chase rumbles through the piano while Goerne imbues the narrative with passion and intensity, depicting the three characters with admirably individualistic sound colours...It’s a joy that Goerne and Haefliger have given us a recital that shows off so many facets of his artistry in such an admirably skilful way.” MusicWeb International, March 2013

“This is a wonderful recital, in almost all respects. The first thing to grab my attention was the mesmerisinly lovely playing Andreas Haefliger, one of the greatest living pianists...[in Erlkönig] Haefliger's accompaniment is so vivid that I'd enjoy it by itself; Goerne doesn't characterise the three persons as much as many singers, but he still packs a stunning punch...I would rank this among the finest discs I have ever heard.” BBC Music Magazine, April 2013 *****

“The music of Richard Strauss suited Popp as if she were wearing a tailor-made gown. In that composer's three songs of Ophelia, the soprano places that hapless heroine vividly before us. Gage's accompaniment deftly complements his partner's giddiness...Here, then, is a memorable reminder that we'll never stop missing Lucia Popp.” International Record Review, September 2010

“This is an unusual and wholly absorbing recital by a soprano often, mistakenly, considered no more than a singer with a lovely voice. In 1972, at the height of her appreciable powers, Janowitz impressed her Salzburg audience with this, her first recital at the Festival. Her discerning choice comprises some notable songs by Schubert rarely heard in recital and ones by his contemporary Hüttenbrenner, which Janowitz sang from manuscript copies, seldom performed since the composer's day. These are surely their first recordings.
Has there ever been such a lovely, poised account of the great Schiller-inspired song, DieGötter Griechenlands or such an ingratiating one of Sehnsucht, the Mayrhofer setting? The first offering, Im Freien, has its winning cantilena filled with gloriously sustained, long-breathed tone. The programme ends with Einsamkeit.
This grandly imaginative if slightly impersonal quasi-cantata, to a Mayrhofer text, a composition that Schubert himself thought so highly of, is a kind of a panorama of a life, ending in a wonderfully reposeful final section. Janowitz and her impressive partner perform it with total conviction, sustaining interest throughout.
Although not in Schubert's class – who is? – Hüttenbrenner reveals a talent apparently well able to encompass the meaning of poems in fluent and often imaginative writing. Orfeo provide no texts, let alone translations, but the delightful Spinnerlied must be about spinning: it's an artlessly charming song. Der Hügel is obviously about more serious matters, and in its sad course comes closes to Schubert in depth of feeling.
Frühlingsliedchen has a simple, spring-like joy to it, and an appealingly varied, strophic form. Janowitz takes the measure of them all, and adds to a gently vibrant tone many tints and touches of half-voice.
They could not have a better advocate.
The recording catches the full glow of the singer's voice. The only drawback, that absence of texts, isn't serious enough to stop acquiring this issue, given that Janowitz virtually tells you in her utterance what the songs are about.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010