Schubert: Der Winterabend (Es ist so still), D938

“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

“Maltman brings a light touch to 'Liebesbotschaft', beautifully complemented by the filigree of Johnson's accompaniment...The second encore, 'Der Winterabend', culminates in Johnson's right hand doubling and counterpointing the vocal line - magical.” Gramophone Magazine, March 2012

“Both singer and accompanist are on far better form, for me, than they were in Winterreise...These are direct, uncluttered accounts of songs of varying quality, and the deepest - 'Am Meer', 'Der Doppelganger' - get appropriately weighty treatment, while others, such as the last, are delightfully light.” BBC Music Magazine, March 2012 ****

“Maltman has a very beautiful light baritone voice and sings Schubert with undemonstrative perceptiveness and much musical intelligence...This is fine recording of Schwanengesang, the accompaniment occasionally somewhat insensitive but Maltman's singing hard to fault.” International Record Review, February 2012

“There's an uncompromising emotional rawness in Maltman's singing in Der Atlas, Die Stadt and Der Doppelgänger that make for very disquieting listening. But it's not all angst: he's sexy in Ständchen and humorous in Die Taubenpost. Johnson, meanwhile, is exemplary, reminding us throughout of the genius of Schubert's piano writing.” The Guardian, 8th March 2012 ****

“Maltman confirms that he is one of the most impressive baritone exponents of art songs currently before the public and, of course, he is partnered by one of the finest accompanists of our day, one who is steeped in Schubert’s lieder. Though there are many excellent CD versions of Schwanengesang in the catalogue this one joins the ranks of the very best.” MusicWeb International, June 2012

“…Holl's interpretation really does stand alone in its musical truthfulness and depth of insight.” BBC Music Magazine, October 2008 ****

“Part of what makes Holl such a wonderful artist is the obvious relish he has for the simple act of singing. The words emerge with a wonderful fruity weight, the tone burgeoning through the note's length.Being so firmly rooted in the body, the singing carries an immense natural conviction.” The Telegraph, 26th October 2006 (on the Wigmore Hall performance of Schwanengesang))

“An attractive compilation from EMI's 2001-02 series of Schubert Lieder and piano music. Here, it's predominantly Lieder, with just three piano fragments; but with both artists at their relaxed and creatively focused best.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2008 ****

“...from Bostridge you have intelligent word painting, effortless sense of line, langorous phrasing, and a vocal quality that is as sonorous in the upper register as it is mellow in the lower. Andsnes more than accompanies, he pushes the beauty and depth of the piano writing to the fore, whilst never unbecomingly stealing the show.” Charlotte Gardner, bbc.co.uk, 11th July 2008

“Ian Bostridge is one of the most effective Schubert voices in Europe today” The Times

“Critics have sung Mr. Goerne's praises over and over, and one can hardly add anything at this point: The voice is one of the most beautiful - most lush, most creamy - that any of us has ever heard. His singing is almost impossibly smooth. The first time you hear it, you can scarcely believe it. Even the 10th time, you have to wonder… An impressive recital. Matthias Goerne: a first-class and unforgettable lieder singer.” The New York Sun

“In the sombre and elegiac songs that dominate his programme, Goerne is in his element, singing with his distinctive dark, rounded beauty and almost tortured intensity of thought and feeling. More than almost any other Lieder singer today, he combines expressive diction with an unblemished legato... In their mingled majesty and aching tenderness, Goerne's performances of two great Mayrhofer settings...are as moving as any performances I can remember. With his deep mahogany tones and innate seriousness of manner (on the concert platform he habitually wears a haunted air), Goerne is less convincing when a certain lightness of touch is needed. While not many of his chosen songs require him to smile, one that surely does is the wistful barcarolle Des Fischers Liebesglück, whose fisherman in question sounds thoroughly depressed. It is the same in Der Jüngling am Bache, where Goerne's slow, doleful performance suggests hopeless resignation rather than the tremulous expectancy implied by poem and music.” The Telegraph, 28th April 2008

“Goerne's renowned breath control … creates the hushed legato which is his hallmarl. This comes into its own in the Mayrhofer and Leitner settings, creating the mesmeric lilt of water and of light.” BBC Music Magazine, May 2008 ****

“His voice has a melting allure that draws you in completely to the sentiments of the song, and the disarming beauty of Schubert's music. These performances glow in various lights, rounding off a truly excellent first volume of an ongoing Schubert series.” The Scotsman

“Following Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau nearly 40 years on, Goerne is in his element, singing with his distinctive dark, rounded beauty and almost tortured intensity of thought and feeling. More than almost any other Lieder singer today, he combines expressive diction with an unblemished legato, "bowing" Schubert's long lines like a master cellist (shades here of the great Hans Hotter). In their mingled majesty and aching tenderness, Goerne's performances of two great Mayrhofer settings, Memon and Lied eines Schiffers an die Dioskuren, are as moving as any performances I can remember.” The Telegraph, 26 April 2008 Classical CD of the Week

“Matthias Goerne is fast becoming the Fischer-Dieskau of his generation, the standard-setting singer of the central lieder repertoire.” International Record Review

“'Do you know of any happy music?' Schubert once asked a friend. 'I don't.' Those words could stand as an epigraph to Matthias Goerne's opening salvo in a projected 11- or 12-disc survey of Schubert Lieder. Evanescence, elegy and yearning for a transcendent otherness are the keynotes of a programme that encompasses the Attic majesty and terribilità of 'Memnon' and 'Gruppe aus dem Tartarus', the disillusioned fatalism of 'Der Pilgrim' and the philosophical grandeur of 'Grenzen der Menschenheit'. In these songs Goerne, with his distinctive dark, velvet timbre, is in his element. An intense, almost tortured concentration of thought and feeling has always been his hallmark, as has an unblemished legato. The way he bows Schubert's long lines like a cellist is reminiscent of the great Hans Hotter.
Goerne's rich bass resonances are heard to advantage in a performance of 'Grenzen der Menschenheit' that embraces aching tenderness as well as deep, rolling gravitas. 'Memnon' – a typical Mayrhofer allegory of the artist as tragic outsider – is equally spellbinding, illuminated by telling details like the lingering portamento on 'liebend' – 'lovingly' – as dawn's rays break through the mists. And when have the hazardous leaps of another allegorical Mayrhofer song, 'Freiwilliges Versinken been negotiated with such smoothness and hypnotic eloquence.
Where doubts creep in is in the handful of songs where, pace Schubert's own words, a certain lightness of tone and spirit is implied, but Goerne's involvement is so palpable and his style so scrupulous. For two-thirds and more of this recital the interpretative rewards are uncommonly rich, with the baritone well complemented by Elisabeth Leonskaja's deep-toned (if on occasion over-pedalled), often orchestrally conceived accompaniments.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010