Search - Dietrich Henschel, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Gustav Mahler :: Invitation au Voyage

This fine recital of travel-related songs sung by baritone Dietrich Henschel is devoid of affectation and some of the precious underlining of text we sometimes get from German baritones in lieder. The four languages he sings in on this collection all sound natural, his diction is clear as a bell, and he gets just the right tone for each song. The six Duparc songs range from a description of nightmares ("La vague et la cloche") to one of "a sleep sweet as death" ("Extase"). He sings these with an overriding sense of darkness. The Mahler cycle is occasionally given a truly light vocal touch, which adds poignancy and takes away from the general sense of anxiety. The three Pizzetti songs to Petrarch poems are a travelogue into the poet's past, to a lost love. The Vaughan Williams cycle is a true journey through life's joys, despairs, losses, and end, and Henschel's readings are more subtle but as good as Bryn Terfel's. This is highly recommended. --Robert Levine