The first in a two part set of Beethoven’s Lieder und Gesänge. Beethoven himself was not a keen song writer, yet despite this almost half of his total works call for a voice. This disc includes some of the best of those compositions.
"... the wonderful Roderick Williams who animates and energises everything he does ... and infectiously communicates pleasure. Iain Burnside provides vivid accompaniments. ****"
"This diverse selcetion of cycles and individual songs - the first of a two part release also featuring John Mark Ainsley - show Beethoven’s searching approach to word setting in a range running from the operatic to the comic, the ephemeral to the more substantial. Williams’s subtle baritone adapts to each challenge - tongue-in-cheek as he spins the tale of Goethe’s Flea in Beethoven’s itchy setting, touching and sombre in Of Death from the Six Gellert Songs, suitably boorish in Beethoven’s The Travails of a Bore. Joining him, the rich tone mezzo Ann Murray is also fine, particularly in the four subtly different versions of Goethe’s Sehnsucht, while Iain Burnside’s is sensitive, vibrant and animated." **** Sarah Urwin Jones
“...I can recommend you purchase this two CD set and enjoy the rich and varied world of one of the greatest song writers of his time.” Arther Smith
