Forbidden Fruit
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VARIOUS COMPOSERS
Forbidden Fruit
Benjamin Appl (baritone), James Baillieu (piano)
[ Alpha Classics / CD ]
Release Date: Friday 23 June 2023
This item is currently out of stock. We expect to be able to supply it to you within 2 - 4 weeks from when you place your order.
Temptation, prohibition, good, evil... 'how relevant are these in today's world?' asks Benjamin Appl. With the complicity of pianist James Baillieu, we are taken on a musical arc from simple folk songs through to the great song composers such as Schubert, Schumann and Wolf, along the way visiting the Impressionists Debussy and Poulenc, exploring 'new objectivity' with Weill and Eisler and enjoying compositions by Casucci, Heggie and others. The metaphor of forbidden fruit gives Benjamin and James a wide range of possible interpretations. Whilst some of the song settings centre on sensuality, others focus on socially immoral topics such as incest or sensitive subjects such as abortion. The German baritone embodies each of these stories with a passion and dramatic sense that makes this album a kaleidoscopic and astonishing journey through time and space.
"It works because of the intimacy of the performers (in a warmly confiding acoustic) and the palpable sense that the pair are in sync...It's all delivered with wit, intelligence and sophistication, and the thematic joins don't feel forced despite the breadth of the material." Gramophone
"Forbidden Fruit is chronologically all over the place, which keeps you on your toes and points to the tussel between base desires and romantic ideals. The German baritone Benjamin Appl navigates between Schubert, Weill, Debussy, Hahn, Fanny Mendelssohn and more with ease, while the pianist James Baillieu has a crystal clear and light of touch." Sunday Times
"it's the gentler, airier numbers that show Appl at his considerable best, sustaining intensity even when spinning the tiniest thread of sound, his voice all velvet smoothness...Baillieu's responsive, detailed piano playing supports him at every turn in bringing these songs to life" The Guardian
Tracks:
anon.: I will give my love an apple
Fauré: Requiem: In Paradisum
anon.: The Lord God had planted a garden in Eden
Gurney: The Apple Orchard
anon.: The Lord God Took the Man and Put Him in the Garden of Eden
Wolf, H: Ganymed (No. 50 from Goethe-Lieder)
Weill, K: Youkali
anon.: It is not Good for the Man to Be Alone
Poulenc: L'offrande
anon.: Gardens of pleasure
Hahn, R: A Chloris
Strauss, R: Das Rosenband, Op. 36 No. 1
Wolf, H: An die Geliebte (No. 32 from Mörike-Lieder)
anon.: Adam and His Wife Were Both Naked, and They Felt No Shame
Quilter: Now sleeps the crimson petal, Op. 3 No. 2 (Tennyson)
anon.: And They Became One Flesh
Wolf, H: Und willst du deinen Liebsten sterben sehen (No. 17 from Italienisches Liederbuch)
Debussy: La chevelure
anon.: You're Free to Eat From Any Tree in the Garden
Poulenc: Couplets bachiques
Schoenberg: Brettllieder: No. 7, Arie Aus dem Spiegel von Arkadien "Seit ich so viele Weiber sah"
Casucci: The Fruit of the Tree Was Pleasing ro the Eye / Just a Gigolo (Arr. for Voice and Piano by James Baillieu)
Grieg: To a Devil, EG154
anon.: Now the Serpent Was More Crafty Than Any of the Wild Animals
Poulenc: Le serpent (for Le Bestiaire)
anon.: But of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil You Shall Not Eat
Schumann: Loreley Op. 53 No. 2 (August Wilhelmine Lorenz)
Schumann: Frühlingsfahrt, Op. 45 No. 2
anon.: You will be like God, knowing good and evil
Mendelssohn, Fanny: Lieder (6), Op. 9: Die None
Brühne: She Took of Its Fruit and Ate / Kann Denn Liebe Sünde Sein
Heggie: The Snake
anon.: The Eyes of Both of Them Were Opened
Schubert: Heidenröslein, D257
Schubert: Gretchen am Spinnrade, D118
Eisler: Balladenbuch, Op. 18: No. 2, Die Ballade zum Paragraphen 218
and much more
