This is a remarkable recital of rather dark music from one of the brightest stars in the singing circles. Having proven himself as an exceptional Lieder singer through his fresh cycle of Schubert's Die Schöne Müllerin (on Hyperion), he now takes his versatility one step further.

These Schumann songs, all set to cold and chillingly pessimistic poems by Heinrich Heine, are, when presented in this order, a deeply psychological journey, as they speak more often than not of the bitterness of unrequited love. Even the most cheerful songs, like Die Rose, die Lilie, begin as deceptively ecstatic experiences which ultimately turn sour as they eventually reveal themselves as somewhat despairing looks at love.

Bostridge has a light, beautifully fresh and lyrical voice, further accentuated by splendid imagination -- perhaps, at first instance, this is not quite the voice for this music. Indeed, he misses the complete darkness and occasional venom and bite of a Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, but Bostridge offers a disillusioned, almost delirious young man's outlook at doomed love. His refreshingly silky, ringing tones convey a boyish charm even amidst the most despairing of songs, with heartfelt anguish in his wonderfully restrained pianissimos, projecting an almost sardonic, unequivocally self-pitying character.

His mock seriousness in the Marseillaise in Die beiden Grenadiere heightens the impact of the final ironic statement. Much of the morose Dichterliebe is charged with unexaggerated yet unspeakably real anguish. Every key word strikes an emotional chord with the young singer, and he projects intense feelings not with the hyperbole common to many opera singers who attempt lieder, but with restraint, fierce intelligence and powerful word-pointing. The lushness of Schumann's writing, particularly in the Liederkreis cycle, is evocatively captured, with each song individually crafted to convey its own character, complete with all the subtle differences (even though, at the end of the day, the poems and music point to varying degrees of miserable despondency).

And although pianist Julius Drake lacks a more well-defined personality like that of a Gerald Moore or Geoffrey Parsons or Graham Johnson -- for he does sound more like an accompanist rather than a genuine collaborator -- he makes up for it with fastidious refinement and an imagination consistent with the singer's beautiful, searching portrayal of each song.

With Bostridge, this is one rite of passage through thorny, often perplexing range of emotions that you are unlikely to forget. Splendid recorded sound from EMI.

Copyright © 1998 Lionel H Y Choi