Performance ****     Recording **** 

"The whole set is splendidly done but highlights for me included the sixth song, ‘Auf das Trinkglas eines verstorbenen Freundes’. This song depicts the veering moods of a man taking refuge in the bottle and Williams encompasses all the different aspects of the song most convincingly. He’s tremendously expressive in the aching melancholy of ‘Stille Tränen’; yet for all the expressiveness he never sacrifices the line or purity of tone. This is a memorable performance. The last two songs are movingly done. In ‘Wer machte dich so krank?’ it’s as if resignation has drained the poet of emotion. Finally, in ‘Alte Laute’ Williams offers some exquisite quiet singing in a reading that’s engrossing and marvellously controlled. After a decent pause the Wigmore Hall audience is vociferous in its appreciation; and no wonder. I’m conscious that I’ve said very little about the contribution of Helmut Deutsch. In his biography the list of singers with whom he has worked reads like a veritable Who’s Who of lieder singers, including such greats as Irmgard Seefried and Hermann Prey as well as such luminaries as Matthias Goerne and Jonas Kaufmann from the present generation. With such a pedigree you could expect him to be a splendid partner for Roderick Williams and so it proves. Both the sound quality and documentation are very good. This is a marvellous, deeply satisfying lieder recital and we should be thankful that it’s been preserved on disc for a wide audience to savour."