Schwanengesang : Maltman(Br)G.Johnson(P)

Franz Schubert:
Schwanengesang, D957
Herbst, D945
Der Winterabend, D938

Christopher Maltman, baritone
Graham Johnson, piano
Recorded: 20 April 2010

Concluding a highly acclaimed series of Schubert song cycles on the Wigmore Hall Live label, the much anticipated Schwanengesang. Recorded live on the Wigmore stage by Christopher Maltman and Graham Johnson in April 2010, the song cycle was collated after Schubert’s death by the publisher Haslinger and, through the works of three poets, depicts a despairing man tormented by his lost love.

Often sorrowful, sometimes enraged, this performance never fails to search deep within the emotive poetry, truly exploring the drama that unfolds through the fourteen poems. Famed for his superlative Schubertian pianism, Johnson features here not as an accompanist but as an equal, as Maltman’s stunningly colourful voice seems to display an infinite palette of timbres, carefully and subtly nuanced throughout. ( Wigmore Hall Live )