Vanitas - Lieder by Schubert, Beethoven and Rihm review | Andrew Clements's classical album of the week

The Guardian 80

Georg Nigl/Olga Pashchenko
(Alpha)
Nigl’s controlled, supple voice is aided by Pashchenko’s fierce accompaniment in a thoughtful selection

The Austrian baritone Georg Nigl’s disc with pianist Olga Pashchenko mostly replicates a recital the pair gave at the Berlin festival in September last year. Their performance included the premiere of Wolfgang Rihm’s Vermischter Traum, settings of the German baroque poet and dramatist Andreas Gryphius, which are dedicated to Nigl. The sequence is framed by groups of Schubert songs – a mix of familiar numbers such as Die Forelle, An die Musik and Wandrers Nachtlied, with less well-known late songs – and precedes Rihm’s cycle with Beethoven’s An die ferne Geliebte.