Soprano Lise Davidsen recently gave a recital at the Metropolitan Opera with pianist James Baillieu. The live recording of that gig is now being released by Decca in various formats. My gut reaction was to think that a piano recital at the Met is not such a great idea but the recording turns out to be terrific.
It starts out with a couple of opera arias, There’s a powerful but very beautiful account of “Vissi d’arte” and a very stylish account of “Morrò, ma prima in grazia” from Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera. In this one she shows some interesting colours as well as terrific, clean, high notes. Continue reading
Lines of Life is a CD produced out of a deep collaboration between German baritone Benjamin Appl and Hungarian composer György Kurtág. It’s a mixture of works by Schubert and Kurtág (with one song by Brahms at the end). It centers on Kurtág’s Hölderlin-Gesänge Op.35a but there are other Kurtág works on the disk too, Most of these are sung a capella but there are four settings of texts by Ulrike Schuster that have piano accompaniment (Pierre-Laurent Aimard). The Schubert songs feature James Baillieu on piano except for the last one, and the Brahms, where Kurtág himself accompanies. 
Rachel Fenlon is a very rare, perhaps unique, talent. She’s the only Lieder singer I know who accompanies herself on the piano. 
operaramblings 