Benjamin Appl met Hungarian composer György Kurtág in 2019 and has worked with him ever since. ‘He has shaped me both as a musician and as a human being, perhaps more than anyone else,’ says Appl. This album alternates Romantic German lieder by Schubert and Brahms with vocal pieces by Kurtág, five of which are world-premiere recordings. Kurtág himself is at the piano for two of the songs by Schubert and Brahms; while the German baritone’s old and trusted friends Pierre-Laurent Aimard and James Baillieu join him for the other works in this programme, all under the artistic direction of Kurtág, ending with a fascinating recorded interview with Gyuri bácsi (‘Uncle George’) by Benjamin Appl, who tells us: ‘My aim in this album is to give listeners a glimpse into the infinite universe of György Kurtág, a shy procrastinator, stern self-critic, hesitant researcher, introverted questioner, unpretentious intellectual, brilliant composer and an extraordinary human being.’

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Kurtág: Circumdederunt...
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Schubert: Ganymed, D544
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Kurtág: Das Angenehme dieser Welt...
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Schubert: Totengräbers Heimweh, D842
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Kurtág: Nun versteh‘ ich...
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Schubert: Im Frühling, D882
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Schubert: Dass sie hier gewesen, D775
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Kurtág: Hölderlin-Gesänge, op.35a: 1. An...
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Kurtág: Hölderlin-Gesänge, op.35a: 2. Im Walde
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Kurtág: Hölderlin-Gesänge, op.35a: 3. Gestalt und Geist
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Kurtág: Hölderlin-Gesänge, op.35a: 4. An Zimmern
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Kurtág: Hölderlin-Gesänge, op.35a: 5. Der Spaziergang
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Kurtág: Hölderlin-Gesänge, op.35a: 6. Tübingen, Jänner (Celan)
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Schubert: Der Wanderer an den Mond, D870
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Schubert: Litanei auf das Fest Allerseelen, D343
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Kurtág: Die Rosen
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Kurtág: Die Zeit
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Kurtág: Ich weiss nicht...
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Kurtág: Physalis alkagengi
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Schubert: Der Jüngling and der Quelle, D300
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Brahms: 5 Lieder, op.47: 3. Sonntag

Europadisc Review

Just days before his 99th birthday, the grand old man of Hungarian contemporary music, György Kurtág, is celebrated with the release of baritone Benjamin Appl’s latest album on the Alpha label: Lines of Life. It puts Kurtág’s settings of the great German Romantic poet and philosopher Friedrich Hölderlin (1770–1843) and contemporary author Ulrike Schuster alongside some of Schubert’s best-loved lieder. Kurtág’s distinctively compact, concentrated, at times self-effacing musical language sets off the clear Biedermeier lines of Schubert perfectly, and vice versa. The first part of the disc interweaves Kurtág songs for unaccompanied solo voice with Schubert’s Ganymed, Totengräbers Heimweh, Im Frühling and Dass sie hier gewesen in which Appl is accompanied by pianist James Baillieu.

In the opening track, Circumdederunt..., Kurtág channels Gregorian chant for the Latin psalm text (‘The cords of death encompassed me’), but with a sudden vigorous outburst to express the psalmist’s distress. Then Schubert’s lovely Goethe setting, Ganymed, gently slides into the psalms’ slipstream, with Appl’s gently-hued baritone charting the gradually mounting excitement with wonderfully nuanced and involved singing. Appl has been working closely with Kurtág since 2018, and it shows in the marvellously expressive, shaded and focussed performances of the individual Hölderlin settings heard here. Observe, for example, the carefully-placed sibilants and gravelly lower notes in Das Angenehme dieser Welt..., whose mood of nostalgia seems to lead inexorably to the emotional bleakness of Schubert’s Totengräbers Heimweh (‘Gravediggers Homesickness’); the aphoristic, solitary Nun versteh’ ich in its turn makes a perfect transition to the soft textures of Im Frühling.

The centrepiece of the album is Kurtág’s six Hölderlin-Gesänge (1993–99), mixing modal and modernist language in music that probes the depths of some of Hölderlin’s most enigmatic texts. All are unaccompanied save the third song, Gestalt und Geist, where a trombone and tuba are pitted in judgement against the voice. The penultimate song in particular, Die Spaziergang (‘The Stroll’), is a vocal tour-de-force, wide-ranging and restless, while the final song sets a text by Paul Celan which quotes both Hölderlin and Georg Büchner’s Woyzeck. The many hours of work between Appl and Kurtág are evident in the minutest inflections and the kaleidoscope of timbres and emotions, culminating in an explosive ending, and it’s difficult to imagine a more definitive performance of this challenging cycle than this.

Two further Schubert favourites, Der Wanderer an den Mond and Litanei auf das Fest Allerseelen, provide a sumptuous yet delicately inflected interlude, with Baillieu’s playing matching Appl’s singing in tenderness and artless finesse. Then come four Kurtág settings of texts by Ulrike Schuster, this time with piano accompaniment by Pierre-Laurent Aimard. They are Webernesque in both their tonal language and duration (Ich Weiss nicht... lasts just 17 seconds), but with distinctive Hungarian tinges like the insistent chords at the end of Die Rosen. Though not formally a cycle, these songs are every bit as compelling in their way as the Hölderlin-Gesänge, and again Appl rises magnificently to the challenges of music and texts.

The programme ends with two further lieder, Schubert’s Der Jüngling an der Quelle, and Sonntag from Brahms’s op.47, in which Appl is partnered by Kurtág himself, bringing out all the unforced charm of the former and the lightly-etched radiance of the latter. It’s a delightfully touching end to a thoroughly absorbing sequence of works which, if you don’t already know Kurtág’s music, will surely lead you to more of his output. The final track is an 18-minute interview (in German) between Appl and Kurtág which provides particular insight into the Hölderlin-Gesänge, and full translations in English and French are provided in the accompanying booklet.

As a celebration of the most eminent of living composers – and of his continued creativity at such a remarkable age – this disc could hardly be bettered. It’s a very special release, and is likely to be one of the top vocal releases of the year. Do try it!

Reviews

At its centre lies Kurtag’s Holderlin-Gesange, six mostly unaccompanied songs where Appl’s warmly beautiful voice is at its most alert and varied, colouring each note differently, with shock interjections from a tuba and trombone. Schubert’s songs as usual deal with loving and loss, topics raised across the recital, assembled in the wake of the death of Kurtag’s wife and piano partner, Marta. ... This album is something special.

The Times

The Hölderlin-Gesange form the centrepiece of the sequence; they are extraordinary, pared-down utterances, all but one of them relying on an unaccompanied voice, the other intensely framed by a trombone and tuba; Appl ensures that every chiselled phrase is freighted with meaning. ... It’s a beautifully realised collection, not only evidence of Appl’s command of a wide-ranging repertoire, but also a wonderful tribute to one of the greatest composers and musicians of our time. Andrew Clements

The Guardian 14 February 2025

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Condition	Description
New	Brand new item, only ever sourced from the official UK distributor. Usually seal-wrapped, although a minority of labels do not use seal-wrap.
Used - Mint	Used item in excellent condition. Not usually seal-wrapped.
Used - Good	Used item with some minor signs of wear and tear. Never seal-wrapped.
Used - Acceptable	Used item with obvious scuffs or cosmetic damage to the case or booklet. Never seal-wrapped.

Condition	Description
New	Brand new item, only ever sourced from the official UK distributor. Usually seal-wrapped, although a minority of labels do not use seal-wrap.
Used - Mint	Used item in excellent condition. Not usually seal-wrapped.
Used - Good	Used item with some minor signs of wear and tear. Never seal-wrapped.
Used - Acceptable	Used item with obvious scuffs or cosmetic damage to the case or booklet. Never seal-wrapped.

Lines of Life: Schubert & Kurtag

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Europadisc Review

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