The first sighting of Benjamin Appl came a few years ago when clips were posted on YouTube of his appearance in Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau’s late masterclasses. Since then he has progressed to become a BBC New Generation Artist and an ECHO Rising Star. The various appellations seem well deserved. Appl has a baritone voice with its own character and a natural appreciation of the essentials of singing Lieder.

His programme of songs to poems by Heine ranges from Grieg to rarely heard Rubinstein, but is grounded in two masterworks, Schubert’s Schwanengesang and Schumann’s Dichterliebe. From the Schubert he sings four of the Heine settings (why not ‘Das Fischermädchen’ or ‘Am Meer’?). In ‘Ihr Bild’ he is confiding and heartfelt. ‘Der Doppelgänger’ has atmosphere and the horror of its revelation is well judged. ‘Die Stadt’ benefits from subtle, twilight colouring, but the sudden burst of strength in the closing stanza does not fit with the rest and the quality of voice deteriorates. Each time this happens (try ‘Im Rhein, im heiligen Strome’ in Dichterliebe) the sound is apt to become rough and a touch gritty.

Against that, he floats through Mendelssohn’s beautifully rippling ‘Schwanenlied’ with mellow allure. Schumann’s ‘Du bist wie eine Blume’ is expressively done and Dichterliebe as a whole, accompanied with sensitivity by James Baillieu, is engaging if a touch sombre, Heine’s poetry clear and from the heart.

For a youthful comparison I turned to Christian Gerhaher’s early recording of Schwanengesang (Arte Nova, 4/01). The big difference is that Gerhaher’s singing is consistent in its beauty as well as remarkably precise in every detail – rhythms, enunciation, colouring of vowels. Appl is vocally less even but risks more spontaneity and always sings with feeling. Sample his debut solo disc and you will hear the current front-runner in the next generation of Lieder singers.