Vienna, Fin De Siecle – Barbara Hannigan

   in Opera Now (Nov, 2018)
The force of nature that is Barbara Hannigan – performer, conductor, mentor, director – pauses long enough to provide us with one of the most delicious recitals of the year. Fin de Siècle focuses on the final Viennese swoon of tonality before musical revolution gate-crashed the party; songs from Schoenberg, Webern, Berg, Zemlinsky, Alma Mahler and Wolf. Exquisitely overwrought poetry set to the most luscious music, and, with 31 items, a generous offering. Hannigan and her pianist, Reinbert de Leeuw, work seamlessly together to create a magical sound world. Her voice has a surprising richness, almost voluptuous, for the Schoenberg and Berg, but she adopts a far more blanched tone for …