Wolfgang Holzmair, Imogen Cooper, Wigmore Hall | reviews, news & interviews
Wolfgang Holzmair, Imogen Cooper, Wigmore Hall
Wolfgang Holzmair, Imogen Cooper, Wigmore Hall
Schumann's bicentenary celebrations come to a glorious conclusion in this lieder recital
Tuesday, 14 December 2010
Wolfgang Holzmair: Ageing into his musical prime
The last time I saw Wolfgang Holzmair in concert (at last year’s Oxford Lieder Festival, delivering one of the finest live performances of Winterreise I have heard) the silence that followed the cycle lasted almost 30 seconds – an absolute age where a fidgety post-concert audience is concerned. Last night’s programme of Schumann saw Holzmair finish and pause, hands raised prayerfully, holding his listeners’ attention like so many butterflies within his cupped palms. The release that followed was ecstatic, a spontaneous homage to the musical and narrative mastery of this extraordinary singer.
The last time I saw Wolfgang Holzmair in concert (at last year’s Oxford Lieder Festival, delivering one of the finest live performances of Winterreise I have heard) the silence that followed the cycle lasted almost 30 seconds – an absolute age where a fidgety post-concert audience is concerned. Last night’s programme of Schumann saw Holzmair finish and pause, hands raised prayerfully, holding his listeners’ attention like so many butterflies within his cupped palms. The release that followed was ecstatic, a spontaneous homage to the musical and narrative mastery of this extraordinary singer.
Holzmair has the gift - for a gift in lieder it assuredly is - of making himself as singer invisible
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