Page 164 - Winterreise Coverage Book, 2021 - 22

suggest any country’s hot weather. Pained English anguish and German-language heartbreak are

more his thing, not Italian heat and bravura. Yet here he is in Tormento d’amore, recorded in

Naples in 2020 with the spry ensemble Capella Neapolitano, filled with the kind of baroque

opera arias typically associated with more volcanic and warm-blooded singers; Cecilia Bartoli,
say.

Leaping and writhing through Vivaldi, Cavalli, Stradella and lesser-known composers,

he certainly does more than pass muster, especially in the 11-minute epic extracted from

Vivaldi’s Il Farnace and an equally large aria by Antonio Cesti. The instrumentalists, conducted
by Antonio Florio, are excellent, similarly the recording. At the same time, you can’t help

noticing that our soloist’s lowest register, often called upon in this repertoire, isn’t his most

personable, while a hint of the British stiff upper lip persists no matter how fiery the emotions

and thoughts in these songs of longing, fury, and despair. Think of this as Bostridge’s holiday

album.

There’s no touch of the tourist about the German baritone Benjamin Appl as he navigates the

winter landscapes of the soul depicted in Schubert’s song cycle Winterreise (one of Bostridge’s

specialities). The biggest wonder of this account, recorded in October in London, is Appl’s

unending variety of dynamics and colouring, invaluable for fully embodying the protagonist’s
volatility in the wake of his loved one’s desertion.

We should note the subtleties in James Baillieu’s accompaniments. Compared to

some Winterreise pianists he could be said to be underplaying, rarely attacking notes with a

chisel, keeping the icicles, barking dog and other illustrative details on the quieter side of the

picturesque. But the effect only adds to the cycle’s sad and devastating beauty, while leaving
plenty of space for Appl to grab our hearts and minds and never let us go. (Warner

Classics/Alpha Classics)

Follow @timesarts on Twitter to read the latest reviews