Uncharted is a new CD from countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen and pianist John Churchwell.  It appears to be the first time a countertenor has recorded a disc of classic German Lieder which is interestig and perhaps surprising.  There are three sets on the record.  It starts with Korngold’s Lieder des Abschieds Op. 14; four songs I was previously unfamiliar with but I’m glad to have heard them.  The second set alternates mostly well known songs by Brahms and Clara Schumann and the last set is Robert Schumann’s Liederkreis Op. 39 with, appropriately, his “Der Nussbaum” to wrap things up.

It’s all very well done.  Cohen has a lovely voice and it’s no surprise that his operatic career has taken off.  He has really good legato, can spin a floaty long note and while his colour is generally quite bright he can darken it when he wants to as demonstrated in “Sie liebten sich beide”.  He can also be quite dramatic as in “In meine Nächte Sehnen”.  It’s good solid Lieder singing; not trying too hard to dramatise but telling the story.  It’s like what one expects to get from German singers.  Churchwell is subtle and excellent, as one might expect from the Head of Music at San Francisco Opera.  I think the case for countertenors singing Lieder has been convincingly made.

The recording was made in 2023 at Skywalker Sound in Nicasio CA and it sounds very natural.  Both voice and piano are captured well and the balance is right.  It’s available as a physical CD, as MP3 and as WAV/FLAC/ALAC in 44.1kHz/16 bit, 96kHz/24 bit and 192kHz/24 bit.  I reviewed the 192kHz cut.  The booklet has full texts and translations and lots more.  All in all this is a most interesting and worthwhile record.

Catalogue information: Avie records AV2742 (due for release February 7th, 2025).