Album

Quick: who's the best British Brahms singer of the second half of the twentieth century? That's right, Janet Baker, that redoubtable mezzo born in Yorkshire and trained in London, the singer who began by carrying the mantle of the late Kathleen Ferrier and who wound up becoming a beloved English institution in her own right. In this disc joining performances of 24 songs from three BBC recitals—12 songs from one in 1960, 11 from 1968, and one from 1961—Baker has selected a broad range of Brahms work in the genre and invested each in her own sensitive artistry. Beyond her distinctively warm-toned voice and heartfelt delivery, it is Baker's ability to balance the lyric and the dramatic that makes her Brahms' performances so successful. One gets the sense that Baker not only knows how the texts and music mutually support each other, but knows how they enhance and expand each other, making the whole of each song infinitely more than the sum of its parts. In song after song, Baker seems neither too objective, nor too subjective, but rather perfectly poised between the two, turning in not her interpretations but the essences of the lieder themselves. Accompanied either by pianist Ernest Lush or Paul Hamburger, this disc is a superlative addition to Baker's discography. BBC's live in the studio sound is surprisingly fresh and close considering how old and distant it is.

© James Leonard, Rovi

CD 1
Johannes Brahms Composer 9 Lieder und Gesänge, Op.63 Work Recorded 1960 Dame Janet Baker Mezzo-Soprano, Ernest Lush Piano
1	8.Heimweh 2: O wüsst ich doch den Weg zurück	3:32			$0.99
Johannes Brahms Composer 5 Lieder, Op.72 Work Recorded 1960 Dame Janet Baker Mezzo-Soprano, Ernest Lush Piano
2	3.O kühler Wald	2:20			$0.99
Johannes Brahms Composer 5 Gesänge, Op.71 Work Recorded 1960 Dame Janet Baker Mezzo-Soprano, Ernest Lush Piano
3	3.Geheimnis	3:24			$0.99
Johannes Brahms Composer 4 Lieder, Op.96 Work Recorded 1960 5:01 Dame Janet Baker Mezzo-Soprano, Ernest Lush Piano
4	2.Wir wandelten	2:36			$0.99
5	4.Meerfahrt	2:25			$0.99
Johannes Brahms Composer 5 Lieder, Op.106 Work Recorded 1960 4:25 Dame Janet Baker Mezzo-Soprano, Ernest Lush Piano
6	1.Ständchen	1:29			$0.99
7	5.Ein Wanderer	2:56			$0.99
Johannes Brahms Composer Regenlied, WoOposth.23 Work Recorded 1960 Dame Janet Baker Mezzo-Soprano, Ernest Lush Piano
8	Regenlied, WoOposth.23	1:42			$0.99
Johannes Brahms Composer 5 Lieder, Op.107 Work Recorded 1960 5:19 Dame Janet Baker Mezzo-Soprano, Ernest Lush Piano
9	3.Das Mädchen spricht	1:25			$0.99
10	5.Mädchenlied ('Auf die Nacht")	3:54			$0.99
Johannes Brahms Composer Mondnacht ('Es war als hätt der Himmel'), WoO21 Work Recorded 1960 Dame Janet Baker Mezzo-Soprano, Ernest Lush Piano
11	Mondnacht ('Es war als hätt der Himmel'), WoO21	2:41			$0.99
Johannes Brahms Composer 5 Lieder, for low voice, Op.105 Work Recorded 1960 Dame Janet Baker Mezzo-Soprano, Ernest Lush Piano
12	4.Auf dem Kirchhofe	2:52			$0.99
Johannes Brahms Composer 6 Lieder, for low voice, Op.86 Work Recorded 1968 Paul Hamburger Piano, Dame Janet Baker Mezzo-Soprano
13	2.Feldeinsamkeit	3:54			$0.99
Johannes Brahms Composer 5 Romanzen und Lieder, Op.84 Work Recorded 1968 Paul Hamburger Piano, Dame Janet Baker Mezzo-Soprano
14	4.Vergebliches Ständchen	1:45			$0.99
Johannes Brahms Composer 4 Lieder, Op.46 Work Recorded 1968 Paul Hamburger Piano, Dame Janet Baker Mezzo-Soprano
15	4.An die Nachtigall	3:53			$0.99
Johannes Brahms Composer 9 Lieder und Gesänge, Op.63 Work Recorded 1968 Paul Hamburger Piano, Dame Janet Baker Mezzo-Soprano
16	5.Junge Lieder 1: Meine Liebe ist grün wie der Fliederbusch	1:25			$0.99
Johannes Brahms Composer 7 Lieder, Op.48 Work Recorded 1968 Paul Hamburger Piano, Dame Janet Baker Mezzo-Soprano
17	7.Herbstgefühl	4:22			$0.99
Johannes Brahms Composer 5 Lieder, Op.72 Work Recorded 1968 Paul Hamburger Piano, Dame Janet Baker Mezzo-Soprano
18	2.Sommerfäden	2:12			$0.99
Johannes Brahms Composer 4 Gesänge, Op.70 Work Recorded 1968 Paul Hamburger Piano, Dame Janet Baker Mezzo-Soprano
19	4.Abendregen	5:04			$0.99
Johannes Brahms Composer 5 Lieder, Op.72 Work Recorded 1968 Paul Hamburger Piano, Dame Janet Baker Mezzo-Soprano
20	4.Verzagen	2:36			$0.99
Johannes Brahms Composer 6 Lieder, for low voice, Op.86 Work Recorded 1968 Paul Hamburger Piano, Dame Janet Baker Mezzo-Soprano
21	3.Nachtwandler	4:50			$0.99
Johannes Brahms Composer 6 Lieder, Op.97 Work Recorded 1968 Paul Hamburger Piano, Dame Janet Baker Mezzo-Soprano
22	5.Komm bald	2:44			$0.99
Johannes Brahms Composer 4 Lieder, Op.96 Work Recorded 1968 Paul Hamburger Piano, Dame Janet Baker Mezzo-Soprano
23	1.Der Tod, das ist die kühle Nacht	3:14			$0.99
Johannes Brahms Composer 4 Gesänge, Op.43 Work Recorded 1961 Dame Janet Baker Mezzo-Soprano, Ernest Lush Piano
24	1.Von ewiger Liebe	4:47			$0.99