The voice – a distinctive instrument offering a hint of Christian Gerhaher’s refined artlessness and some of the pleasingly acidic tang of Wolfgang Holzmair – changes according to the accompaniment: feathery and intimate with fortepiano, declamatory and full with piano...All in all, this is a beguiling, intelligent and supremely sensitive recital, which continues to resonate long after its last note has died away. Highly recommended.

Having previously only heard Austrian baritone Georg Nigl as Wozzeck, the fine-boned, almost tenor-ish quality of the voice on this luminous recital took me pleasantly by surprise, and Pashchenko (playing a replica of an 1819 Graf instrument in the earlier songs) matches his delicacy and sensitivity to the hilt.

Nigl’s performance is beautifully controlled, suave almost; his soft-grained voice wraps itself easily around Rihm’s smoothly contoured vocal lines...There’s an easy familiarity about their Schubert performances, an almost private intimacy in which nothing is overstated...it’s a thoughtful, rewarding collection.