Ian Bostridge’s third account of Die Schöne Müllerin on disc falls between the youthful ardour and aching vulnerability of his award-winning 1995 Hyperion recording with Graham Johnson and his opinion-dividing, psychoanalytically-inclined EMI interrogation with Mitsuko Uchida a decade later. Where that most recent recording led, with Bostridge beginning to probe beneath the surface simplicity of Schubert’s tale of infatuated, ill-fated young love in search of hidden psychological insights, this second iteration, recorded live in London’s Wigmore Hall, follows with greater penetration and more sophisticated fervency.
Paired with the young Italian-Dutch pianist Saskia Giorgini, the 55-year-old Bostridge may be more advanced in years than Schubert’s forlorn adolescent, but maturity trumps innocence in an account more acute and persuasive than even Uchida’s insightful playing was able to coax.
There’s no faulting the crisp clarity of Bostridge’s diction,...
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