Alder can do it all, and there are already plenty of colours in the voice.

Each song sounds utterly fresh, with the bright, flinty beauty of Alder’s soprano constantly conveying lively intelligence as well as strong characterisation. The interpretations are natural and confident, her German vividly pointed...Middleton’s piano-playing is superb throughout as well, offering perceptive, lively and sensitive accompaniment entirely on Alder’s wavelength.

Louise Alder’s exemplary German diction is pure, long-breathed line and clear identification with the emotional import of the poetry all serve her very well here. She is by no means the first singer to present these songs. Joseph Middleton’s pianism is exemplary, as is the recorded sound.

That Alder is a Strauss (and Mozart) soprano of rare gifts has been obvious for quite a while. Her radiant, silver-flecked-with-gold tone, long-breathed phrases and exquisitely floated high notes are a prerequisite for this repertoire, but she also has excellent German diction...she brings vivid interpretative qualities, aided by her superb pianist, who relishes the rippling arpeggios of Ständchen.

she sings [Zueignung] with unusual and touching introversion and contemplation. All are sung with vivid narrative skill, rich in colour and detail, and with a stunning purity of tone on long notes (as in the “Ruhe” of Ruhe, meine Seele!). Alder is beautifully partnered by pianist Joseph Middleton.

In an astute selection of lieder, Alder combines youthful sparkle with artless and affecting sincerity...she finds wonderfully expressive range here, tease and wit in the more carefree numbers, melancholic poise when Strauss sets more anxiously existential verses.

This imaginatively conceived and beautifully recorded recital makes a perfect calling card for this fresh- voiced young singer. Grouping Strauss songs in groups- youth, longing motherhood and so on – Alder is acutely responsive to text and texture with winningly unshowy technique and seamlessly pure tone. Middleton, on equally fine form, again demonstrates he’s one of the most talented, intuitive collaborative pianists of his generation.