Stephan Genz’s voice and style place him above his many noted contemporaries. His mellifluous baritone recalls that of a young Thomas Hampson, but his understanding of the Lieder genre is even more penetrating, as this Mahler recital reveals. Each song is shaped as a whole yet with subtleties of phrase and word-painting that seem inevitable in every respect, especially as the chosen tempi always seem the right ones.

Performing and listening to these songs with piano is inevitably a more intimate experience than when they are heard in their orchestral garb. In his extensive booklet-note, Roger Vignoles is a persuasive advocate: ‘To the song-accompanist, the habit of “thinking orchestrally” tends to become ingrained and once having operated it in one direction, it seems natural – to this writer at least – to bring it off in reverse. In the process, of course, a consciousness of Mahler’s own orchestral sonorities can only help in inventing equivalent keyboard colours of one’s own…’ In this he is as good as his word, his playing discerning and finely shaped.

The pair’s rapport is evident throughout. I draw particular attention to the poise and stillness of ‘Ich atmet’ einen Linden duft’ from the Rückert-Lieder, the eloquent sadness of ‘Nicht Wiedersehen’ and the restrained sorrow of the whole of Kindertotenlieder. Indeed, not a hint of sentimentality, such a danger in Mahler, spoils the experience of the composer’s deeply felt emotions.

Hyperion’s recording, beautifully balanced, catches the true quality of Genz’s voice and the refinement of Vignoles’s playing. This disc is an experience not to be missed by any lover of Mahler and/or of Lieder.