**** Excellent Album

Recommended

“…Bostridge’s earlier Schwanengesang with Antonio Pappano is terrific, and I wouldn’t want to be without it. It’s the poignancy of Lars Vogt’s contribution that makes this one special, though. The expressivity of both voice and piano bring the listener deeper into both the music and the words, and help to provide an experience that is deep, enriching, and often very moving….”

“… Not a phrase or nuance is thrown away; words are meaningful and dramatized, syllables cutting to the quick. The late Lars Vogt takes on the role of not so much a pianist or accompanist as sound sculptor, a poignant observer searching through textures and harmonies, embracing every morsel of word painting…”

“…Where Bostridge’s 2009 recording gave us an impeccably smooth and polished take on Schwanengesang, this new one ultimately delivers much more in terms of character. Listeners will appreciate how the duo brings out the best in each other. Warmly recommended.”

Nominee in the Vocal Music category

“… This [Der Doppelgänger’] is one of Bostridge’s most penetrating performances …”

Performance ****      Recording ****

“… The musicians are matched in both power and frailty, navigating the cycle’s erratic mood swings with assurance … This musical partnership is companionable, even exciting because Vogt does not ‘accompany’ slavishly, but retains his own character, spreading, anticipating or delaying harmonies to tell an independently compelling tale. His playing has dazzling textural richness… Bostridge brings characteristic emotional immersion, crafting persuasively vulnerable protagonists.”

“… Even more than in the other cycles, he [Bostridge] will divide audiences with these interpretations … His relentless way of distorting the lyrics in an ironic-grotesque way takes a lot of getting used to, but is not uninteresting. This time he has with the recently much too young deceased Lars Vogt a pianist as an accompanist who goes his way more than one hundred percent and shakes up the piano part dynamically and colorfully that the sparks just fly. Bostridge’s over-accentuations, his dynamic escapades, his novel and provocative phrasings, all this can only be accepted if one knows the cycle and can compare the Bostridge-Vogt performance with more normal interpretations. So: this is a CD for connoisseurs. The uninitiated would get a wrong, too alternative impression of the music. ****