Work: Elis: 3 Nocturnes for piano

The German baritone and his frequent recital collaborator perform tragic evocations of insanity in Lenau settings with intense impact.

When I first settled into my red velvet seat at Carnegie Hall, my excitement was overtaken by a grim foreboding. The hall’s internationally celebrated acoustics were offering an all-too-dazzling earful of sneezes and sniffles – a fact I observed in a germaphobic panic.