Bliss International Song Series

Bliss International Song Series

 

Louise Alder - soprano

Joseph Middleton - piano

 

Rachmaninov - Six Songs Op 38

Berg - Sieben Frühe Lieder

Strauss - Vier Letze Lieder

 

Louise Alder and Joseph Middleton ‘two of classical song’s brightest artists’ (The Guardian) appear in Cambridge together for the first time under the auspices of Pembroke College‘s Bliss International Song Series. This summer saw the release of their third, much lauded recital CD, which was selected as a Gramophone Editor‘s Choice, and as with their other releases, sat at the top of the classical charts. Their programme for Cambridge includes Rachmaninov’s Six Songs opus 38, repertoire which prompted the Guardian to write of a recent Wigmore Hall recital: “Alder is in glorious voice, her soprano fresh and untethered…her high notes gleam, and her words are direct and communicative…Middleton’s playing fills in everything those words can’t say, perfectly calibrated to support Alder but huge in its expressive scope.” Heady early Berg opens the door to Viennese repertoire, the recital ending with Alder and Middleton performing Strauss’s transcendental Four Last Songs.