Sometimes, only sometimes, the words of Lieder may seem more important than the music. Especially if you take one of the greatest poets as the starting point of your recital and arrange your choice of repertoire entirely accordingly. The listener will then try to find the song lyrics faster than usual. And also pay them much more attention than would otherwise be the case.

As a singer, you then have a duty to let people know – and relive – what music can do with words, how they may be enriched by being put to a melody.

We all know Schumann’s Dichterliebe (and also the songs from Schubert’s Schwanengesang) and although the young Benjamin Appl’s interpretation is exceptionally beautiful, it would not make my heart beat any faster. But someone who calls his CD recital Stunden, Tage, Ewigkeiten is taking on obligations, and Appl takes them very seriously.

Apart from Schumann, Schubert and the Mendelssohns, Appl also tackles Anton Rubinstein’s rarely performed Heine songs. “Der Asra” I knew from Liszt’s piano arrangement, but it is my first introduction to the sung version. The song about the rich sultan’s daughter and the young slave in love with her, is poignant in its simplicity. I must honestly confess that my eyes became slightly moist and that, of course, is the best sign that it is right.

The young German possesses an improbably beautiful timbre that you will fall in love with immediately. His text control is exemplary, every word is clearly intelligible, but without being overpowering.

James Baillieu proves himself an equal partner: you can hear how beautiful his touché is in Rubinstein’s “Du bist wie eine Blume”. Chapeau!

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