It’s odd that Dichterliebe seems to be an exception to the apparent rule that women may sing ‘men’s songs’ (Winterreise‚ Die schöne Müllerin) but that the reverse (a baritone Frauenliebe und ­leben) is not permissible. In an accompanying note Barbara Bonney says that she ‘imagined I was the woman to whom the poems were addressed‚ retelling the story of the man who had loved her’‚ and the most obvious example of this is ‘Ich grolle nicht’‚ where the bitter scorn that many tenors and baritones bring to the song is quite absent. Instead it is sadly regretful‚ with a pang of sheer horror at ‘the serpent which eats your heart’; it is the piano’s coda that portrays the turbulence of the awakened memory. ‘Ein Jüngling liebt ein Mädchen’ is poignant recollection‚ not rueful anger; there is an emotional crescendo to the end‚ but the dynamic does not rise above forte. Elsewhere the differences are as much of vocal colour as of gender. There is less acting than in many male singers’ accounts‚ and the silvery quality of Bonney’s voice points the beauty and expressiveness of the melodies as much as the burden of the words. Once or twice you may find the sound tending to whiteness; often it is effective as an image of a woman recounting a tragedy from her girlhood. Liszt’s songs‚ though often close contemporaries of Schumann’s‚ demand a quite different approach. Ideally‚ you might think‚ they require a bigger voice than Bonney can bring to them‚ but she is very expert at scaling her sound to the songs’ requirements‚ giving for example real climactic force to the word ‘rayonnera’ in ‘O quand je dors’‚ although the actual volume is not immense; and how beautifully she shades away from that climax. Her and Pappano’s choice of version (Liszt set many of his texts two or three times) is shrewd; often they opt for the later settings‚ but the hushed quality of the earlier ‘Über allen Gipfeln’ and the fine line of the first ‘Der du von dem Himmel bist’ suit her voice very well. What a good idea to add the earlier version of ‘O quand je dors’ in Peter Cornelius’s German translation. Pappano is an imaginative‚ supportive partner. Bonney pronounces the French ‘se’ as though it were spelled ‘c’est’‚ and avoids the problem of what to do with the French ‘r’ by hardly pronouncing it at all. Otherwise an uncommonly thoughtful – and thought­provoking – recital.