The mystery of the ballad comes from the way it is told.’ (Goethe). Epic to the point of hallucination, this genre calls for skill in narrative, word-painting, evocation. And it is as a peerless storyteller that Stéphane Degout tackles this repertory which the German Romantics raised to unequalled heights. Who would have believed, before listening to this disc, that a French baritone could pay such eloquent tribute to the language of Goethe? © harmonia mundi

The title of this release by soprano Robyn Allegra Parton refers not only to a general mood of circa-1900 Vienna but specifically to the frequent use of burnished gold-leaf in the paintings of Gustav Klimt, whose Vienna Secession movement in art had many affinities to what was happening in the musical world. Parton uses the gold as lipstick in the graphics; one may or may not go for this, but the package here is coherent and satisfying in several ways. Richard Strauss is present on the program, and Parton, writing her own notes, correctly points out that his influence loomed large on all the composers heard here. But in a way, the interest of Parton's program lies in the differences among the styles of the composers on the program. Parton puts the listener in the place of an audience member at a vocal recital of the time, hearing the Impressionist hints of Joseph Marx, the new simplicity of the young Erich Korngold, the decisive steps toward atonality in the Seven Early Songs of Berg (at the time Schoenberg's student), and the works of two female composers, the quite playful experimental Johanna Müller-Hermann and Alma Mahler-Schindler, both of whom were heard fairly frequently at the time but were later forgotten. Parton's voice is an absolutely distinctive soprano, with a bit of rough texture flashing unexpectedly into a brilliant top. Quite a few recordings lately have explored the rich repertory of Austrian vocal music of this period, but this one is especially well thought-out and executed; it appeared on classical best-seller charts in the summer of 2023. © James Manheim /TiVo

This eleven hour box set marks the 90th birthday of German mezzo-soprano Christa Ludwig, whose phenomenal career, which ran from 1950 to 1990, still inspires admiration in her colleagues (of course) and a growing number of music fans. She has collaborated with the greatest musicians of her age, most notably Herbert von Karajan, Leonard Bernstein and Otto Klemperer. She also shone in the genre of the Lied, with a brilliance comparable to Elisabeth Schwarzkopf's or Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau's – and of course she regularly performed with both – and these recordings with Gerald Moore and Geoffrey Parsons bear witness to her talents. A note on the brand-new releases that form part of this edition: some performances are published here for the first time*: these are Lieder with orchestra by Alban Berg (tracks 144 to 146), Max Reger (track 137) and Richard Wagner (track 124) as well as Lieder with piano by Hugo Wolf (track 14), Franz Schubert (tracks 15 and 16, 62 to 66) and Stille Nacht (track 89), which were left aside when they were first recorded, either because of the limits of the 33rpm format, or just because of a decision by the artistic director. This collection also sees some pieces re-published for the first time since their release on LP, such as the piece by Gluck (track 88), several of Brahms' Lieder (tracks 15 to 19, tracks 104 and 107). The recital of Brahms which Christa Ludwig would record alongside Walter Berry appears here in its entirety for the first time since it was first released (from track 67 to track 89, see above). © Qobuz

Pianist Nicholas Angelich, even more admired in Europe than in his native U.S., passed away tragically early in 2022 at the age of 51. One way to look at this Hommage is to note that it took quite a bit of research power, much of it apparently donated, to put together this massive seven-volume tribute, assembled from live performances and radio broadcasts between 1995 and 2019. That is a lot of Angelich, but fans here will find much that sheds new light on his genius. Consider the Brahms Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Haydn, Op. 24, which Angelich rarely played in concert. It receives a wonderfully controlled performance in which the tricky architecture of this work comes to the surface. Angelich was a fine virtuoso, and the Liszt Transcendental Etudes and the big Russian works generally have a layer of excitement added by the live performance. However, Angelich is equally effective in subtler pieces, thoughtful in the likes of Zemlinsky and the Bach Goldberg Variations, BWV 988, where the sequence of events feels somewhat different from in the pianist's 2011 studio recording even as the über-Romantic slow tempos are retained. His opening aria is even slower than on the studio version. The mastering of these immensely diverse sound sources from Erato is as good as such a thing can be, and physical album buyers get some fine reflections on the pianist's work. This is, in short, an effective tribute to a pianist whose life and work were brutally cut short.© James Manheim /TiVo

Physical buyers of the album will get reflections from Tiffany Poon about "feeling all the feels" and other similarly general concepts (the diaries, apparently, are hers rather than Schumann's), but this young pianist turns out to have a real feel for Schumann, and this release, her first on the PentaTone label, promises much. There are dozens, perhaps hundreds, of available recordings of the three Schumann works here, but Poon succeeds in standing out from the crowd. The most remarkable performance of all is one of the most popular works, Kinderszenen, Op. 15, and within that, one can sample the single most beloved Scene of Childhood, Träumerei, Op. 15/7. Poon, in a world full of heavily rubato-laden interpretations of these pieces, takes Robert Schumann's advice to Clara to heart and plays them not far from fixed tempos, but there is nothing dispassionate about her performance, which makes a great deal out of very small gestures. Later in the program, which builds in intensity as it proceeds, Poon unleashes some drama in the Davidsbündlertänze, Op. 6, works that are close to Schumann's heart and expressive of his fantasy life. Even here, everything is under perfect control. It has been a very long time since such freshly conceived and brilliantly executed Schumann has graced CD players and hard drives, and audiences responded by placing this album on classical best-seller lists in early 2024.© James Manheim /TiVo

There isn't a daring new approach to Schumann proposed by this set of familiar works, but that may be the appeal that put the album on classical best-seller charts in early 2023. The Fantasie in C major, Op. 17, was worked by Schumann as it developed into a tribute to Beethoven, and the references to Beethoven's late style, which Schumann, among just a few others, understood at the time, are multiple. However, it was also a chronicle of the composer's at-the-time forbidden love affair with his girlfriend, Clara Wieck, itself illustrated with a little quote from Beethoven's song cycle An die ferne Geliebte, Op. 98. Schumann marked the first movement "durchaus fantastisch und leidenschaftlich vorzutragen" ("to be played fantastically and passionately throughout"), but it is also a densely polyphonic and intricately structured work, of which Liszt said, "I mean... to work at it and penetrate it through and through." Pianist Fabrizio Chiovetta, without obvious effort, holds these elements in balance. He is equally effective in the more Olympian Arabeske, Op. 18, and in the Kinderszenen, Op. 15, where each little scene of childhood is beautifully realized without extreme tempo variations that distort the nature of the work. The program, as a whole, places the listener amidst the ferment of Schumann's creativity in the mid-1830s, and Aparte's sound from the Salle Gustav Mahler in Dobbiaco, Italy, is another strong draw. A fine outing from Chiovetta.© James Manheim /TiVo

In this collection of orchestral songs by Richard Strauss, including the Four Last Songs, Finnish soprano Soile Isokoski demonstrates that this is obviously repertoire in which she is fully at ease and which is ideally suited to her voice. Strauss demands a nuanced command of a broad range of vocal colors and weights, and Isokoski shows an idiomatic mastery of his style. She has the suppleness and lightness to make "Säusle, liebe Myrte" really sparkle, and she brings a rich warmth to "September" and "Im Abendrot." And she can radiantly soar over the orchestra in "Befreit," and in all the Four Last Songs. Isokoski's voice doesn't have the natural luminosity or openness to put this in the very top ranks of recordings of these songs, but hers is a very fine performance; it should delight her fans and also be of interest to listeners who love the songs and who savor hearing a variety of interpretations. Marek Janowski leads Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin in a rhythmically supple performance, although the strings don't have the richness of the most acclaimed orchestras. He doesn't fully capture the twilight glow of the Four Last Songs, and the ending of "Im Abendrot" comes across as flaccid rather than evocative. The sound of Ondine's 2001 recording is warm and nicely ambient, but it tends to slightly favor the orchestra, so that Isokoski doesn't always shine with the brightness of which she is clearly capable.© TiVo

With this set of 12 cantatas, a few of them quite short, Dutch historical-instrument conductor Ton Koopman approaches the end of his monumental traversal of the complete Bach cantata corpus. The cantatas here mostly date from the last two decades of Bach's life. By this time Bach had cantatas from earlier cycles ready for most occasions pertaining to the liturgical year. Several of the works here were written for special occasions -- weddings in at least two cases. The orchestration for the most part is large and varied, with several pieces including trumpets and tympani; the Cantata No. 195, "Dem Gerechten muß das Licht," BWV 195, features a dazzling array of strings, oboe, oboe d'amore, transverse flutes, horns, trumpets, bassoon, timpani, and continuo. The result is that these pieces play to the strengths of Koopman's interpretations: the warm, flawless blend of the Amsterdam Baroque Choir and the sharp differentiation of the instruments within what remains a big, festive sound overall. The famous cantata in this group is the Cantata No. 140, "Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme," BWV 140, with its "Sleepers Awake" chorale and its lovely variations on a pastoral theme. Sample the opening chorus (CD 2, track 1) for an idea of what you can expect in the various large choruses in the lesser-known cantatas in the set: each has its nice textural touches, and not a one gets lost in Koopman's expert interpretation. Hear the "Welt, ade, ich bin dein müde" (World, goodbye, I am tired of you) movement of the Cantata No. 158, "Der Friede sei mit dir," BWV 158, for an example of Koopman at his best: this odd combination of a bass aria with mantra-like interjections of the chorale from the choir's sopranos would throw a lesser conductor. The soloists in this set are also unusually effective. Soprano Sandrine Piau's voice is unhampered by the high pitch Koopman employs, and her soaring lyricism makes an effective foil for the unusual, rather English horn-like timbre of the alto of Bogna Bartosz. There is something a bit cool in Koopman's readings; for deep humanistic insights into Bach's music, the evolving cantata set by John Eliot Gardiner may be preferable. But in the public, festive music heard here, this lion of the historical-performance movement is hard to beat. © TiVo