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Reviewer:
Alexandra Coghlan There are no concepts, no gimmicks and just a single-word title – ‘Bach’ – for Benjamin Appl’s latest release. This is the young baritone’s second disc since signing an exclusive contract with Sony Classical in 2016, and perhaps the inevitable follow-up to ‘Heimat’, the singer’s journey through his personal origins and influences. Now, after Schubert, Brahms and Wolf, the Lieder singer takes a musical trip back to where it all began: Johann Sebastian Bach. The selection is an eclectic one. Just when you think you’re settling in for a recital of favourites – ‘Mache dich’ and ‘Gebt mir meinen Jesum wieder’ from the St Matthew Passion, Stölzel’s ‘Bist du bei mir’ collected in the Notenbüchlein für Anna Magdalena Bach, the lovely opening Sinfonia from Cantata No 156, better known as the slow movement of the F minor Harpsichord Concerto – Appl mixes it up. What’s most surprising is the humour. Appl is, by instinct, a musical storyteller and brings a raconteur’s enjoyment to the musical battle between Apollo and Pan vividly staged in ‘Zu Tanze, zu Sprunge’ from the cantata Geschwinde, ihr wirbelnden Winde (just listen to those onomatopoeic repetitions of ‘wackelt’), and relishes the hellish rasp of the Day of Judgement trumpets as described in Cantata No 70, Wachet! betet! betet! wachet!. Concerto Köln provide a skilled supporting cast for Appl’s musical drama, seizing the spotlight in musical cameos: the distant violin fireworks in the opening bars of ‘Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan’, the dulcimer drawing us into the giddy dance of the Sinfonia from the Peasant Cantata (No 212), the jangling violence of the solo violin in ‘Gebt mir meinem Jesum wieder’. But vocally there are issues. Appl’s unfinished sound, his tendency to leave note- and phrase-endings unfinished, to grip the tone rather than release into natural spin, the tight top and underpowered bottom of the voice, all make for some rather uneven performances. He feels overfaced in the semiquavers of ‘Siehe, ich will viel Fischer aussenden’, where intonation and articulation both suffer. Often there’s simply not enough body to the tone to generate satisfying legato, coasting on top of Bach’s lines rather than inhabiting them. Appl’s natural, unaffected delivery and bright, tenorial tone may yet make for a great artist but he’s still far from the finished product. |
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