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CDA67392

Buy? £13.99

Recording details: January 2003
Tonstudio Teije van Geest, Sandhausen, Germany
Release date: October 2004
Total duration: 72 minutes 17 seconds
Available for download on iTunes: Yes

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'Stephen Genz relies on subtle shading, verbal refinement and a lightness of touch to interpret a generous selection of Mahlerian masterpieces' (Classic FM Magazine)

'This disc shows Stephan Genz entering his fourth decade with all the light suppleness and ardour of his youthful recordings, but now with darker colours and firmer bass ballast folding into his baritone. His intuitive musical partnership with Roger Vignoles is as sentient and perceptive as ever; and together they uncover the dark, sensual mysteries of the late-Rommantic response to the natural world' (BBC Music Magazine)

'Even in this golden age of Lieder singers, Stephan Genz has few rivals for easeful beauty of tone and acuteness of insight' (The Daily Telegraph)

'a rich sonorous eloquence from Genz, while Vignoles musters a full range of orchestral colours. Piano accompaniment lends these works a more personal, intimate feel, turning this generous disc into a pensive, rewarding journey through the many complex moods of Mahler's inner life' (The Observer)

'This is an extremely enjoyable disc, which casts a lot of light on even those songs of Mahler which were written to be accompanied orchestrally … Genz is singing a cycle to which he is utterly suited, and the effect is magical' (International Record Review)

'What surpassingly magnificent music this is, and what a superbly intelligent display of Western high-art at its most poignant from Genz and Vignoles. I just can't stop playing the disc. Endless pleasure, endless sorrow, endless beauty' (Fanfare)

'Stephen Genz is an excellent light baritone whose timbre reminds me sometimes of one of his teachers, Dietrich Fischer-Diskau, and whose interpretations are like Fischer-Diskau's earlier ones,before he began to over-interpret … Highly recommended' (American Record Guide)

Songs
Frühlingsmorgen  [1:47]
Hans und Grete  [2:15]
Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen
Um Mitternacht  [5:30]
Kindertotenlieder
This enthralling recital guides the grateful listener on an emotional journey through Mahler’s extraordinary output of songs – from the folk-inspired Lieder und Gesänge all the way to the tragically consolatory Kindertotenlieder. As different in musical tone as they are in psychological outlook, all of these songs show their composer as a true master of the art.

Roger Vignoles admirably embraces the colours of Mahler’s orchestrally-minded accompaniments, the piano versions perhaps allowing a more personal aspect of these rich songs to come to the fore; and the rich baritone of Stephan Genz draws the listener ineluctably into a world where honest human feeling is captured in perfection of musical form.