Brahms: Liebestreu, Op. 3 No. 1

“[in the E minor Cello Sonata] the flexibility of tempo sounds totally natural and unforced...with his nut-brown tones in the lower registers of the cello, I hope for many more recordings of Romantic music from him” Gramophone Magazine, July 2011

“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

“Music for cello by Brahms's friends, placing the composer in context. Giuseppe Martucci… challenges Brahms on his own ground with a full-blown sonata. …this is an enjoyable piece, clearly influenced by Brahms but still genuinely inspired. Theodor Kirchner's... nicely played pieces are, in a sense, brief homages to Brahms without being imitative.” Gramophone Magazine, August 2009

“From Roger Vignoles's first light-filled notes in 'Bei mir sind meine Gedanken', with Bernada Fink's smiling, wide-eyed voice, these performers make it sound as though the ink is still wet on Brahms's manuscripts. The real skill of Fink and Vignoles is to capture that fusion of physical and emotional movement within a song - and to recreate it with real spontaneity.” BBC Music Magazine, March 2007 ****

“'Bei dir sind meine Gedanken', one of Brahms's happiest songs, makes an inviting aperitif. Buoyed by the evanescent shimmer of Roger Vignoles's accompaniment, Bernarda Fink is all confiding eagerness, phrasing deftly and gracefully and showing a natural feeling for Brahmsian rubato. One would expect Fink's warm, luminous mezzo, flecked by darker, deeper tints, to be near ideal for, say, the nostalgia of 'Alte Liebe' or the many songs of elegiac loss and heartbreak, all touchingly done here. But having thought of her as an essentially 'serious' singer, dignified, eloquent, the vivacity and 'face' she brings to 'Bei dir sind meine Gedanken' and other lighter songs is sheer delight. 'Ständchen', here more sunlit than moonlit, is charmingly characterised, with an affectionate caress on the dreaming girl's 'Vergiss nicht mein'. Fink is playfully coquettish without archness in the delicious 'Spanisches Lied', and sings 'Vergebliches Ständchen' with an outgoing boldness and witty touches of timing – and the tender lingering on the penultimate 'Mein Knab' suggests that the boy's luck may soon be about to change.
Other singers have brought a more intense yearning to 'Die Mainacht' and found greater mystery amid the slumberous balm of 'Feldeinsamkeit'.
But Fink's flowing performances, sensitively shaped and inflected, are never less than satisfying. It is good to be reminded, too, that, for all its melancholy, 'Die Mainacht' is also a song of spring, suffused by warm major-key harmonies, with a hint of excited anticipation at the line 'Wann, o lächelndes Bild'. On the face of it, Fink's lyric mezzo would seem to be on the light side for 'Von ewiger Liebe'. But with Vignoles imaginatively 'orchestrating' the keyboard part, she gives a finely graded, deeply moving performance, vividly contrasting the contained passion of the boy's words with the girl's gentle candour. The glowing climactic avowal of eternal love is truly overwhelming, setting the seal on a Brahms recital of rare distinction.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“For all the tragic, premature loss last year of Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Argentinian Bernarda Fink is just one of a golden generation of mezzos vying for the mantle of Janet Baker. One of the most versatile, as at ease in Baroque repertoire as in music from Handel and Mozart to Schumann, Fink's rich, warm voice boasts the perfect blend of colour and clarity for this selection of 31 songs from the almost 200 Brahms wrote. Her musical intelligence combines with the sensitivity of Roger Vignoles to capture the folk-song spirit behind their urbane polish.” The Observer