Marlis Petersen, Anke Vondung, Werner Güra, Konrad Jarnot, Christoph Berner, Camillo Radicke Harmonia Mundi HMC 902050 ****

It seems self-evident now. Schumann was bound to be mistaken when he thought one of his late song cycles requiring four singers would be among his most popular works. He, of course, was thinking of domestic performance, not public concerts – one cycle even has a piano duet for accompaniment. Now that song recitals are mostly single-singer affairs, complete performances of the three sets of songs featured here are rare. The locale may be Spain but forlorn lovers still abound, the tone is often folksily light, and there are opportunities for beautiful warbling. These performances are charming and penetrating, and the most striking song, Der Contrabandiste, is characterfully barked out by bass baritone Konrad Jarnot. See url.ie/55ay