Early-Music tenor Jan Kobow and fortepianist Kristian Bezuidenhout bring an authentic, improvisational approach to Schwanengesang,

Following their critically-acclaimed Schöne Müllerin for ATMA Classique, the Berlin-born, Early-Music tenor Jan Kobow and fortepianist Kristian Bezuidenhout return with Schwanengesang, a recording devoted to the lieder of Schubert and Mendelssohn. Kobow’s strong affinity for lied, particularly German art song of the romantic period, makes this release especially noteworthy. Kobow performs regularly with conductors such as Philippe Herreweghe, Frieder Bernius, John Eliot Gardiner, Gustav Leonhardt, Jeffrey Tate and René Jacobs, and with ensembles including the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra and the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin.

The great power of Schwanengesang, composed shortly before Schubert’s death, is that it represents a new way of conceiving lieder — where the text finds its true meaning only when set to music. Mendelssohn’s six lieder on texts by Heinrich Heine are also included.