Goerne remains a fine lieder singer … he shows a careful attention to text … he finds a contemplative depth for the Four Serious Songs, however, with the sorrow and tenderness of the second beautifully suggested.

It’s music that’s very well suited to his voice: grainy and gentle and with that characteristic burnished-mahogany tone...this is supremely seductive Lieder singing, with a natural intelligence and ease with the words, matched by playing from Christoph Eschenbach that coaxes and caresses the piano with loving delicacy.

This is a grown-up disc of grown-up repertoire…it’s superbly done and it’s entirely worthy to stand alongside Goerne’s excellent Schubert recitals for the same label.

No-one broods quite like Matthias Goerne, and if his new recital of Brahms songs makes for a decidedly sombre listening experience, it’s also an absolutely unmissable one...his oaky, sturdy voice has taken on darker and more dramatic hues of late...There’s a special sort of alchemy in his partnership with Eschenbach, too, to the extent that it often feels as if we’re listening to a single performer.

The finest-grained colours come from the piano: Eschenbach knows when to push and when to linger, and he has a lovely knack of catching Goerne at the crest of a phrase and then adding his own quiet commentary.

they suit Brahms’ Vier ernste Gesange, his Four Serious Songs, wonderfully well, that velvety voice seemingly endless reserves of dynamic and expressive power, and a pianist prepared to linger wherever the singer leads, bringing dark shades of his own to the sound...I’ll be listening to this again and again.