Robert Schumann – The Songs 5
Dichterliebe and other Heine settings

Christopher Maltman
Graham Johnson
Stephen Layton

Gramophone Editor’s choice
Gramophone critics’ choice (chosen by two critics)

Gramophone

With this superbly executed recital, Maltman leaps in a single bound into the front rank of Lieder interpreters today. ‘There are so many deeply satisfying performances here…it is difficult to know which to alight on for special praise. A perfectly balanced recording adds to one’s pleasure in listening to this generously filled CD, which is up to the high standard of this series to date

The Singer

A magnificent achievement

Gramophone

Editor’s Choice

Hyperion’s Schumann series continues to strike gold with a collection…that finds baritone Christopher Maltman on superb form

Varsity Online

One of the most intelligently thought-out accounts of Dichterliebe on record

International Record Review

This is a treasurable issue – generous in quality and quantity alike. As with the Hyperion Schubert Song edition one struggles for new ways of expressing one's admiration. Quite apart from the superb material, and the excellence of the performances, there is a booklet 122 pages long, packed with stimulating notes of great perception, accurate yet readable translations, small but clear illustrations and, most fascinating of all, a tabulated listing of the contents of Heine's books of verse, with against each the names of the composers who have set the lyrics. In a word: magnificent!

Amazon.co.uk

There are so many delights to be found here, and the combination of a beautiful voice, Johnson’s superbly sensitive playing, and the intimacy of Hyperion’s benchmark recorded sound must surely propel this towards an awards ceremony or two. The Dichterliebe cycle is an intimate, deeply felt performance, winningly understated, and a great tribute to the intelligent musicality of both performers. It concludes a disc which absolutely bursts with goodies – 77 minutes of bliss

Fanfare
This disc by itself is enough to establish [Maltman] as one of the genre’s most important recent exponents. This is a probing, generous Dichterliebe, full of detail and thoroughly engrossing from beginning to end – comments that in fact apply to everything on this disc. This disc is a strong contender for my Want List this year, and is very highly recommended

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