Schubert: Wehmut, D772 (Collin)

“Schwarzkopf and Fischer make a magical partnership, with even the simplest of songs inspiring intensely subtle expression from singer and pianist alike. Fischer left few records more endearing than this, and Schwarzkopf’s colouring of word and tone is masterly.” Penguin Guide

“Bostridge reveals his expanding mastery in the widest variety of expression, with the subtlest range of tone, and with a deliberate hardening of the characteristically sweet voice in some of the more dramatic songs...In all this Drake is the perfect partner, ranging wide in his tonal palette too” Penguin Guide, 2010 edition ****

“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 ****

“Fischer's luminous, unfussily truthful, sober yet supple, and above all supremely elevated pianism is the perfect foil to Schwarzkopf's eye-lash-fluttering vocal acuity.” BBC Music Magazine, October 2005

“This little 58-minute Schubertiad a la francaise makes a very good case for the viola as a Schubertian soulmate par excellence...Piau's irresistably radiant soprano, together with the viola...transforms the music's pastoral into a haunting evocation of the poignant exhilaration of mortality.” BBC Music Magazine, September 2010 ****

“The most beautiful soprano voice to emerge in the last decade shows us how affectingly she can scale down from Verdi and lighter Wagner. From Haydn's little prayer, its introduction telling us what kind of hallowed support to expect from pianist Wolfram Rieger, to Beethoven's 'An die Hoffnung' we move into the shadows and back. ...Harteros nobly underlines two very special centres of gravity: Schubert's 'Wehmut', lightened by its vivacious successor, and Brahms's 'Die Tod, das ist die kühle Nacht', inflected with all the luminous and darker tones she is capable of conjuring. An enchanted hour.” BBC Music Magazine, March 2010 *****

“…Brahms's "Von ewiger Liebe" is included as the recital's "title-song" and suits well her sumptuous tone and strong sense of dramatic phrasing. She is especially responsive to Strauss's soprano-flattering lines. The lullaby "Meinem Kinde" is charmingly done, as especially is "Allerseelen", suggesting the manner of the Four Last Songs... Rieger is an eloquent partner in this highly coloured songs.” Gramophone Magazine, December 2009

“These studio sessions don’t really compare well with recordings of Schwarzkopf's live recitals - the voice can, at times, sound tired and over-studied - but there's a magnificent 'Abscheulicher!' from Fidelio.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2008 ***

“a magical partnership, with even the simplest of songs inspiring intensely subtle expression from singer and pianist alike. Though Fischer's playing is not immaculate, he left few records more endearing than this, and Schwarzkopf's colouring of word and tone is masterly.” Penguin Guide, 2010 edition ****

“excellent vocal and lyrical presentation. An 'Erlkönig' brilliantly graduated in terms of colour becomes the highlight of the CD” Das Opernglas

“If there is a thrilling story to be told, such as 'Gretchen am Spinnard' or even more so in 'Erlkönig', Waltraud Meier launches into the dramatics of the story, and just as she is on the stage performing opera, she is a pure actress.” Frankfurter Neue Presse

“Meier... is accompanied by Joseph Breinl, a young pianist whose interpretation already possesses a wonderful maturity. He accentuates the orchestral side of Schubert’s piano setting just as colourful as the intimate chamber musical moods so that... Schubert’s songs are rendered in an outrageously dense and tonally beautiful way. […] Finally, in the evergreen "Zuneigung", Waltraud Meier shows the wide range of her voice, which even in extremely slow passages retains its inner cohesion.” klassik.com

“great potential and presentation possibilities […] Each word of the poetry is felt with emotion and meaning through the music. Schubert’s 'Erlkönig' is in itself an experience, in how Meier interprets the roles of the King of the Elves and also of the little boy trembling with fear.” Main-Post

“Accompanied by Joseph Breinl, who provides a richly colourful interpretation, in the piano version by Wolf and Roth, she makes Strauss’s "Vier letzten Lieder" the high point of the whole-hearted and exciting recital, a genre in which she has much experience. […] She almost makes mini-operas out of the songs, using the whole spectrum of theatrical colours right up to the dramatic scene of Schubert’s 'Erlkönig'” Opernwelt

“The flavour of the songs, composed between 1815 and 1923, is predominantly warm, as if Schubert were enjoying composition as an act of relaxation. [Eisenlohr] shows impressive poise and poetic understanding” Sunday Times