The gravity and joy of living

He is gradually becoming the audience favourite of the Great Singers series: Florian Boesch. He performs here regularly, as does Malcolm Martineau, one of the world’s most renowned lieder accompanists. Boesch is a true lieder singer, not an opera singer who does lieder on the side. His calendar is reserved for lieder. Today, two famous song cycles. Brahms on the transience of life; Schumann’s Dichterliebe is the jubilant cry of a man madly in love.

Brahms chose texts from the Old Testament for his Vier ernste Gesänge. Plus one from the New Testament, an inspiring text by the apostle Paul on ‘faith, hope and love’. In 1840, Robert Schumann experienced the most beautiful year of his life. Newly married to Clara, he expressed his irrepressible happiness in no less than 138 lieder. For Dichterliebe, he selected the sixteen most beautiful. The song Im wunderschönen Monat Mai is of a delicate tenderness.

Classical Album of the Week: 'This is as fine a recorded performance of Dichterliebe as any released in recent years.' ★★★★ – The Guardian