James Rutherford / Eugene Asti SCHUBERT Schwanengesang

The UK is better at creating opera singers than it is at finding work for them: James Rutherford, based in Frankfurt, is a case in point. His baritone has almost everything for the Schubert selection on this disc: lightness at the top, warmth in the middle, velvety low notes, and an edge that ensures the words cut through. In dramatic songs he’s capable of quicksilver changes of timbre; in Kriegers Ahnung, for example, he moves from a low snarl early on to gentle, airborne high notes. All that’s missing is a sense of mischief and the ability to seduce. Ständchen, a lover’s serenade, sounds beautiful but solemn; he’s never going to get that girl to climb out of her window unless he lightens up. Die Forelle, however, is lovely, with Eugene Asti’s bubbling piano nudging the vocal lines along. An die Musik, sung and played with great intensity of feeling, closes a rewarding disc. (Erica Jeal / The Guardian)