Mark Padmore and Paul Lewis, Wigmore Hall

With his crystal timbre, perfect enunciation and keen sense of theatre, tenor Mark Padmore (St Matthew Passion) has long been one of Britain’s pre-eminent recitalists. Few artists are able to temper the overwhelming force of their voice with such thoughtful restraint. In this, pianist Paul Lewis is his match. No mere accompanist, his acclaimed recordings Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas for Harmonia Mundi won him a Gramophone ‘Best Recording of the Year’ award. The combination of these two titans should be little short of spectacular, and one of the highlights of the Wigmore Hall 2015/16 season.

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The recital explores four of the nineteenth century’s pre-eminent songwriters. It opens with Robert Schumann’s Liederkreis (1840), one of the great romantic cycles. In setting twelve of Joseph Eichendorff’s poems, Schumann created a symbolic musical language, submerging a narrative beneath self-reflective meditations. Liederkreis will be followed by six of Johannes Brahms’ lieder. Composed throughout his long life, they swap the romantic mystery of Schumann for a more concentrated force.
After the interval, the pair will launch into six songs by the one composer whom no lieder performance should be without – Franz Schubert. The programme includes his seldom-performed Gesange des Harfners (1822), a miniature cycle inspired by Goethe’s Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship. Padmore and Lewis conclude with Hugo Wolf’s Goethe-Lieder (1890), an eleven-strong set that combines expressive romanticism with forward-looking concision. Whether you’re a committed lieder lover or looking for an entry point into this exquisite German tradition, this looks to be an enchanting evening.