Work: Biblické písne (Biblical songs), Op.99

Is there any instrument more bittersweet than the viola? The violin does the acrobatics, the cello is more conventionally beautiful, but the viola sits in the middle of the orchestral palette like no other instrument. Neither high nor low, it’s perfectly placed to embody the contradictory and the conflicted, ideal for a sense of desire denied or of fulfilment deferred.

High Romance in a small Midlands town: the Oxford Lieder Festival opening concert launches an enticing series.

Christian Gerhaher demonstrates an extraordinary range of vocal colours in settings of biblical psalms and High Romantic poetry.