Schumann: Dichterliebe op.48, Liederkreis op.24

Tenor Mark Padmore is deftly supported by fortepianist Kristian Bezuidenhout in this lieder recital of Heine settings by Robert Schumann and Franz Lachner (5 songs from Sängerfahrt). On October 27 Mark and Kristian perform this programme at Carnegie Hall. Here in the UK, Mark is singing Schwanengesang with Paul Lewis and Roger Vignoles during October whilst in November Mark and Kristian are at the Concertgebouw. Die schöne Müllerin is accompanied by Till Fellner in Germany and France and UK audiences have to wait until December 6 to hear Mark Padmore and Kristian Bezuidenhout perform Dichterliebe and Lachner's Heine Lieder at London's Wigmore Hall.

"Bezuidenhout plays an 1837 Erard...giving the kind of clarity and crisp articulation in the middle and upper registers that certainly gives an extra piquancy to the textures...Padmore's performances of both the Heine cycles are as restrained and as carefully enunciated and musically polished as one might expect, his tone almost disembodied at times" The Guardian, 4th November 2010 ***

"Padmore's sweetness of tone is capable of growth and intensification, and he is sensible to the subtleties of modulation. Kristian Bezuidenhout...feels and thinks with the singer, makes his points without exaggeration and misses nothing" Gramophone Magazine, December 2010