Ian Bostridge and Julius Drake: Songs by Schubert 2 | Album Review

This carefully conceived Schubert recital, recorded in concert in May 2014, ventures well beyond the familiar and popular.

Bostridge’s highly personal style is both intimate and intense, the feelings sometimes bursting out as if they were impossible to contain.

Carefree is not a manner he readily embraces. The first half culminates in Totengräbers Heimweh, with a gravedigger longing for the peace of the grave.

The second opens with Auf der Riesenkoppe and the rapture of the ascent to a mountain summit. The two, of course, sound closer than you might ever have imagined.

Julius Drake at the piano is a full partner, imbued in and developing the moods of the voice.

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