Matthias Goerne not only performs at the highest level as a baritone himself, but his piano accompaniments also rank among the Champions League of classical music. For his first album, which was dedicated to Beethoven songs, he brought Jan Lisiecki on board. This was followed by the album Abendrot with melodies by Wagner and Strauss, among others, together with the young talent Seong-Jin Cho. Now we may experience the baritone in duo with the world-class Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov, presenting us with a metaphysical program of Berg, Schumann, Wolf, Shostakovich and Brahms.The combination of music and poetry was brought to a climax in the form of the Romantic art song by Franz Schubert. The composers presented here build on this tradition, and despite the wide, temporal span of their publications - there are 135 years between Schumann's Dichterliebe and Shostakovich's Michelangelo Suite - the closeness and significance to the text and its authors is equally evident in all of them. Schumann's Dichterliebe is probably one of the best examples of this: the setting of Heinrich Heine's texts brings together two masters of Romanticism who could not be better interpreted by Goerne and Trifonov. Themes of impossible love and human suffering are unfolded through extremes in the monologue as well as the music, with Goerne maintaining this "strong sensitivity" throughout. In the same vein, the unspoken finds its place on the piano and takes on much more than just an accompanying role in his interpretation - as well as in art song in general. Trifonov is in direct musical dialogue with Goerne, the two artists communicating at eye level.A similar symbiosis is evident in the Michelangelo musical settings by Wolf and Shostakovich. By abandoning tonality in the latter, the connection between piano and spoken word is again reinforced on another level. A unique duo project by two contemporary greats whose paths will hopefully cross more often. © Lena Germann/Qobuz

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The art song might seem to present Mahler's style in miniature, but actually song pervaded his output. Some of the vocal movements in his symphonies use his songs directly, and beyond this, his interests in and treatments of German poetry set the tone for a major strand of his work, in general. Consider the grim Kindertotenlieder ("Songs on the Deaths of Children"), setting texts by Friedrich Rückert. Mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly, recently recovered from cancer surgery when this recording was made in 2021, seems to find resonance in these, and her voice, always persuasive in Mahler, has a rather uncannily fragile quality in these quiet songs. In the bigger songs from the Rückert-Lieder and Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen sets, Connolly has to apply a lot of vibrato by this time; listeners' reaction to this will vary, but she is nowhere less than emotionally honest and engaged here. Sample Wenn dein Mütterlein from the Kindertotenlieder, truly heartbreaking in Connolly's hands. Joseph Middleton, always a top-notch accompanist, outdoes himself here, introducing hints of the hidden psychological currents that make these songs so absorbing. A fine entry in Connolly's late-career turn toward Mahler specialization, this made classical best-seller lists in the summer of 2023.© James Manheim /TiVo

John Eliot Gardiner, the Monteverdi Choir, and the English Baroque Soloists come to Bach's St. John Passion after their ambitious traversal of all the church cantatas, so they are immersed in the subtleties of the composer's expressive sensibilities and musical styles. Their performance of the St. John Passion is emotionally explosive and often darkly dramatic; the opening chorus, for instance, is roiling and tumultuous, almost chaotic, a wrenching opening to the passion narrative. As dark as the tone is, it is never murky; this is the darkness of obsidian whose blackness is revealed when light glints off its sharply defined surfaces. The performances of the soloists match the brilliance, finesse, and clarity of the chorus and orchestra. As the Narrator, tenor Mark Padmore sings with urgency and acute sensitivity to the text; he comes across as an engrossing storyteller. His voice has an exemplary purity and he is equally impressive in the lyrical tenor arias. Bass Hanno Müller-Brachmann is a warmly sympathetic Jesus, and bass Peter Harvey is a forceful Pilate. The remaining soloists, all of whom are excellent, have relatively small parts in the passion, but soprano Joann Lunn and Bernarda Fink are standouts. The recording offers clean and exceptionally well-defined sound. Gardiner's version should be especially attractive to listeners looking for a polishedperformance that emphasizes the emotionally charged atmosphere of the score. © TiVo

There are plenty of recordings of these three Mahler song cycles, but this one by mezzo-soprano Alice Coote stands out from the crowd. It may seem extreme, but it might equally be regarded as simply having the kind of direct emotional commitment that classical performances used to have before the genre got too decorous. A symphonic counterpart might be Leonard Bernstein's Mahler recordings, and one guesses that Mahler would have loved both. Coote is really powerful in the Kindertotenlieder, the Songs of Dead Children, and she's one of the few singers who really enter into the texts of Rückert. She can blaze in the higher ranges and take it down to an extremely uncanny echolike effect in the midrange: sample "Ging heut' morgen über's Feld," the piece that furnished the thematic material for the first movement of the Symphony No. 4 in G major, starting about three and a half minutes in, when Coote seems to fade into the background. Conductor Marc Albrecht keeps the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra largely out of Coote's way, although all the details are there, and are captured by Pentatone's precise engineering. A fine set of Mahler song cycles.© TiVo

Those wondering whether Himmelsmusik falls on the experimental side of the output of Austrian-born ensemble leader and continuo player Christina Pluhar and her ensemble L'Arpeggiata can rest easy: there is nothing here in the vein of Pluhar's aptly titled Handel Gone Wild. Instead, Pluhar, countertenor Philippe Jaroussky, and her musicians play it straight and deliver a lovely album from the generally neglected German mid-Baroque, and from almost unknown music within that classification. Not all the music pertains to heaven, as the title might suggest; other topics (such as the Christ child) appear, but all the pieces have a calm, worshipful flavor. Pluhar's focus is the music between Schütz and Bach, with both of those composers added at the end to sum up the territory that has been covered. A major presence is French countertenor Philippe Jaroussky, who certainly can attract bigger clients; his participation is a clue to the music's worth. Some of the composers have direct connections with one or the other (Johann Theile was one of Schütz's last and best students, and the J.C. Bach on the program is not Johann Christian Bach or even Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach, but the Arnstadt composer and organist Johann Christoph Bach, Johann Sebastian's first cousin once removed, some of whose later works were for a time accepted as J.S.'s own. Generally speaking, the vocal pieces are solo vocal "concertos" or arias that experiment with the Schütz model, finding new ways to express the texts as dramatic utterances. Sample Franz Tunder's Ein kleines Kindelein, with its substantial introduction and then its text that pours out in a single thought. The composers were aided in their quest by new developments in Italian instrumental music, some of which is included. Tunder shows up on organ programs, but the likes of Crato Bütner, Philipp Heinrich Erlebach, and Johann Rudolf Ahle will be unfamiliar even to Baroque enthusiasts. The music of some was mostly destroyed during World War II; others worked in obscure or distant courts and never made it into the history books. Pluhar's effort at reconstruction is impressive, and Jaroussky is an ideal collaborator; their music-making can be enjoyed by anyone. A deep dive of the very best kind.© TiVo

Veteran Dutch historical-instrument specialist Sigiswald Kuijken adopts a version of the one-voice-per-part procedure in this performance of Bach's St. John Passion, BWV 245, using four soloists and another quartet for the "ripieno" or choral passages. Refreshingly, he doesn't even try to claim historical authenticity for this in the interview-format notes, pointing instead to the "extremely natural balance with the instrumental ensemble" and the "textual expressivity his approach permits." He even concedes that for a major performance of this work, Bach would likely have had larger forces available. If you believe that the contrast between German Lutheran chorus and Italianate melody lies at the heart of Bach's appeal, forming a richness unparalleled since Albrecht Dürer infused Italian color into the severe German figures of his paintings, then look elsewhere. For the adherent of Kuijken's approach, however, this St. John Passion merits consideration, as much for the unexpected instrumental details emerging from Kuijken's La Petite Bande as for the work of the soloists; alto Petra Noskaiová is superb, but the others are a mixed bag. The sound, from Belgium's Academiezaal concert hall, is a major plus. © TiVo

If one comes to these performances of Mahler's three songs cycles without prior knowledge or experience of the music, one might well think them definitive. Each singer is wonderfully suited to the texts. Thomas Quasthoff brings virility and sensitivity to the Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen. Violeta Urmana brings vivacity and sensuality to the Rückert Lieder. Anne-Sofie von Otter beings gravity and profundity to the Kindentotenlieder. Pierre Boulez brings clarity and lucidity to his conducting and the Vienna Philharmonic brings grace and beauty to its playing. Deutsche Grammophon's sound is fresh, bright, and clean. If one already knows other performances of Mahler's song cycles, one might prefer Fischer-Dieskau, Prey, Hampson, Ludwig, Baker, or Ferrier with Furtwängler, Klemperer, Barbirolli, Böhm, or Haitink. If one does, however, come to the music without prior knowledge or experience, one should probably start with an earlier recording. If one already knows the music, these superlative performances are well worth hearing. But if this is the first time one hears Mahler's endless soulful and infinitely moving song cycles, try Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau or Christa Ludwig.© TiVo

Based solely on the excellence of Christian Gerhaher's singing and his highly expressive interpretations of Gustav Mahler's lieder, this album is required listening for all fans of the singer and the composer. But this 2013 Sony release is also essential for Mahler scholars and collectors because it presents the original orchestrations of Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, Kindertotenlieder, and Rückert-Lieder, which receive their first recordings here. Kent Nagano and the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal accompany Gerhaher with subtlety and warmth, and the playing is as smooth and rich as Gerhaher's baritone voice, which makes the melodies inviting and moving. The performances on this CD were recorded on two concert dates early in 2012, so the best takes were used, notwithstanding coughs and other audience noises that can be heard occasionally. Even so, the sound is slightly variable in the mixing, so close listening reveals differences that could be due to studio enhancement. However, because the musicianship is so high, and Gerhaher's delivery is so appealing, this recording is definitely worth having, even with its few imperfections.© TiVo