The Complete Songs Vol 3

Hyperion’s Strauss Lieder series is fast becoming a worthy successor to the seminal Schubert and Schumann Lieder sets on the label. This third volume features the brilliant young British tenor Andrew Kennedy, whose performances in concert, in operas and on disc have received the highest praise. Hearing Strauss’s songs sung by a tenor is a wonderful and rare experience, and brings a different colour to even the most well-known songs on this disc. This recording fills in some of the gaps left by the first two volumes. Together with them it completes the eights songs of Opus 10, the six songs of Opus 19 and the five songs of Schlichte Weisen Op 21. It also presents two groups, Opus 17 and 32, complete as originally published, and it ends with three songs from Opus 48. Altogether the selection covers the eighteen years from 1882 to 1900, during which Strauss composed all his major tone poems. Roger Vignoles performs with his usual matchless musicianship and provides the extensive booklet notes.

Wise men have told us that Strauss loved sopranos and looked down on tenors - but here comes a recital by the lower male voice seriously to challenge that belief. Hyperion is an old hand at programming attractively playable discs that make up complete Lied editions … Vignoles's playing continues to achieve a maximum of freshness and invention and a chameleon-like closeness to his singer's tone and line. Kennedy's voice is young, sweet, fluent and has what some commentators call "sap" … The readings attain a consistently high standard of beautiful music-making' (Gramophone)

'The third volume of Hyperion’s Strauss song series comes with a tenor riding the chromatic waves. Kennedy’s young voice still has some growing to do in lieder, but his flexible tones and avoidance of the Precious Beautiful Voice give lots of pleasure. Roger Vignoles’s piano accompaniments are superb' (The Times)

'There's no doubt about it now. For anyone who cares about lieder and the music of Richard Strauss this is one of the most significant recording projects in the current catalogue. Thanks to Roger Vignoles it's also shaping up to be one of the best … How good it is to hear a male voice singing 'Ständchen' with youthful ardour and warm, rounded tone … Kennedy has that rare gift among singers of making a song unfold almost conversationally. Not that he eschews the grand manner when it's required … As for Vignoles, just listen to the final bars of 'Winterweihe'. It's a taste of heaven - literally so and pianistically. How I long for the next instalment of this noble project' (International Record Review)

'Kennedy's offering is welcome indeed … His range, in terms of pitch and expression, sounds terrific and the quality of his enthusiasm is infectious. The songs themselves are a joy and Vignoles's accompaniment nearly creates the illusion of an entire orchestra' (Classic FM Magazine)

'Here at last is a tenor for Richard Strauss … Andrew Kennedy is an eager, bright-eyed lover: the bloom and the tenderness of the middle range of his voice, in particular, know just how to bring a luxuriant, Straussian intimacy t a song such as 'Seitdem dein Aug' in meines Schaute'. Kennedy seems to bond particularly well, too, with Strauss's songs of sadness: the indeterminate harmonies and half-lights of 'Aus den Liedern der Trauer' and the stark ardour of 'Sehnsucht' are impressive … This recital shows glimpses of a future operatic Straussian to watch for' (BBC Music Magazine)

'Andrew Kennedy … gives consistent pleasure with his sweet, sappy tone, free-ringing high notes and keen characterisation. Roger Vignoles's playing is as colourful and eloquent as his booklet notes' (Daily Telegraph)

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Recording details: July 2007; All Saints, Durham Road, East Finchley, London, United Kingdom; Produced by Mark Brown; Engineered by Julian Millard; Release date: April 2008;