Part 1

Schumann: Kerner Lieder…..

· Ballade des Harfners 98 a/2

· Lust der Sturmnacht

· Stirb, Lieb' und Freud!

· Wanderlied

· Erstes Grün

· Sehnsucht nach der Wandgegend

· Aus das Trinkglas eines Verstorben

· Wanderung

· Stille Liebe

· Frage

· Stille Tranen

· Wer macht dich so Krank?

· Alte Laute

Part 2: French song

Poulenc

· Tel Jour, Telle Nuit

· Montparnasse

· Un Poeme

· C

· Paganinnini

Debussy

· Nuit d'étoiles

Faure

· Mandolin 58/1

Poulenc (Poemes de Guillaume Apollinaire)

· Avant le Cinema

· 1904

Encore

Schubert

· An den Mond in einer Herbstnacht D614

What the critics say

Poise and poetry of a jet-set star.

Matthew Rye for The Telegraph, Friday 19 February 1999

AS the still appreciably young British baritone Simon Keenlyside joins the operatic jet set, his appearances in his homeland are becoming rarer and much sought after.

His sell-out Wigmore Hall recital brought evidence of both his drawing-power and his lack of pretension, for his career takes him to the great opera houses and Lieder halls of the world. It was also the recital of a level-headed artist who is not afraid of devoting the majority of his programme to the more serious end of the repertoire.

Kerner Lieder is one of Schumann's more subdued cycles of songs, having little of the raw passion of, say, Dichterliebe. But this is where Keenlyside's refined art comes into its own. Sympathetically accompanied throughout by pianist Malcolm Martineau, he responded to the dark but often veiled sentiments of words and music with singing that was full of control and balance of line, epitomised in the moving expression of Stille Liebe ("Silent Love"). Only occasionally, when there were sudden leaps to the upper reaches of his register, did this vocal poise falter.

There has been more bitterness and bile in performances of Poulenc's great cycle Tel jour, telle nuit than Keenlyside brought to his, yet there was no lack of the anger that lies in the background - and frequently the foreground - of Paul Eluard's gritty poems.

A further selection of individual Poulenc mélodies barely lightened this serious mood, either. Rather than sounding trivially surreal, a couple of his rapid-fire, patter-style songs came across as expressions of emotional desperation.

A song each by Debussy and Fauré, respectively Nuit d'étoiles and Mandoline, brought an interlude of relative stillness, in which we could marvel at Keenlyside's long-breathed lines and his ability to shape a melodic phrase in tune with the sense of the words.

What this recital demonstrated more than anything is that despite his acclaim in the more dramatic operatic roles, such as Don Giovanni, in the recital hall he is a master of lyrical singing, pointing up the detail and minutiae of vocal expression that is one of the most desirable skills of the Lieder-singer's art.

.David Murray, Financial Times

“To judge by the response of Tuesday’s audience, he could fill the hall every week doing the same thing. He is very good to hear.”

Rick Jones, The Evening Standard

“His tone was rich and effortlessly beautiful.”