Review by Ian Bostridge – Homelands

Given the current crises that are driving thousands to leave their homes, it can be easy to forget that the issue of exile has been around as long as humans have existed: settlement is a relatively new phenomenon. For the Romantic poets, hiking was a metaphor for man’s own homelessness. “I am a stranger everywhere,” says Schubert’s song “The Wanderer” – one of 24 songs composed by different composers from Schubert to Schumann to Mahler. Fauré and Duparc, along with four of the most prominent song interpreters – Ian Bostridge, James Atkinson, Jennifer France, and Wonsik Oh – span the musical spectrum around the theme of home and exile on this CD. One feels a strange intertwining of melancholy and longing when listening to songs so consistently beautifully sung: comfort can also arise from the awareness of transience.

Homelands
Works by Schubert, Schumann, Tchaikovsky, Fauré, Mahler, Duparc, Wolf, Rachmaninoff and Schein

Jennifer France (soprano), Ian Bostridge (tenor), James Atkinson (baritone), Wonsik Oh (bass), Aaron Golden (piano)
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Ian Bostridge

Tenor Ian Bostridge, born in London in 1964, is one of the most sought-after singers of song and opera in his field, and one of the leading interpreters of works by Schubert and Britten. Before his musical career, he obtained a doctorate… Continue