Gramophone Magazine
April 2025
Editor's Choice

Ian Bostridge (tenor), Saskia Giorgini (piano)

Schumann: Lieder (5), Op. 40
Schumann: Liederkreis, Op. 39
Schumann: Gedichte (12) von Justinus Kerner Op. 35
Schumann: 2 Lieder from Lieder-Album für die Jugend, Op. 79

Twilight is the third album of tenor Ian Bostridge and pianist Saskia Giorgini, dedicated to Robert Schumann song cycles, all written in the miraculously productive year of 1840.The album title and cover photography were inspired by the song Zwielicht, which together with Mondnacht from the same Op. 39 cycle is often considered to be theepitome of German nineteenth-century Romanticism.

It is also a fitting metaphor forSchumann's troubled soul, constantly oscillating between light and dark, between hopeand despair. Shedding a fascinating light on Schumann's dark inner world, the recorded songs are both an expression of his profound love for his wife Clara and of euphoria afterhaving overcome a period of severe mental disturbance.

It is hard to think of better ambassadors for this repertoire than Ian Bostridge and Saskia Giorgini, whose acclaimed partnership has made them seasoned champions of the German lied.

Ian Bostridge is one of the most celebrated tenors and lied interpreters of his generation.His PENTATONE recording of Schubert's Winterreise (2019) was crowned with the ICMA Vocal Music Award 2020.

Bostridge has since released Schwanengesang (2022), The Folly of Desire (2023) as well as Die schone Mallerin (2020) and Respighi Songs (2021), both together with Saskia Giorgini, on the label. Giorgini's Liszt recordings Harmonies poetiques et religieuses (2021) and Consolations (2023), as well as her Debussy recital album Images (2024), have all received extensive praise.

"Literary meaning isn’t ignored; he just knows when the music carries the moment with his expansive upper range and a depth of tone in his lower range...In Bostridge’s vast discography, this is one of his best." - Gramophone Magazine, April 2025