Just go to tracks 13, 14, and 15--two Debussy songs and one by Mozart--and you will hear the essence of this recital, both in terms of Banse's exceptional expressive facility, warm yet vibrant tone production, and remarkable agility and accuracy of pitch, as well as these composers' unsurpassed way with texts, melodies, and musical scene-painting. The Mozart song, Das Veilchen, about a violet that gets stepped on, is as perfectly gorgeous and well-crafted as any of this composer's more celebrated efforts, and Banse conveys its emotional content so effectively that you don't even have to know the textual details to appreciate its meaning. The vocal technique is so effortless--and thankfully, the top-most pitches are so free of harshness--that we have only to enjoy the music, a luxury that we don't always attain with many less-assured and less-accomplished singers.

Although Banse exhibits greatest affinity for and proficiency in the Mozart selections--what sensuous legato and scintillating runs and leaps!--her command of the Debussian idiom is profound. She and Schiff have been performing these songs together for years, and their easy partnership shows in the way Schiff accomodates Banse's near-improvisatory shaping of phrases and treatment of tempos. Happily, the programming of this recital has nothing to do with ECM's occasional tendencies toward musicologically shaky conceptualizations and repertorial/stylistic juxtapositions (Bach and Webern, Bach and numerological theories, etc.). Rather, this is a revelatory program whose seemingly strange combination of composers and styles--Jacques Drillon's colorfully pretentious notes to the contrary--simply arises from Banse's purely musical/artistic desire to bring more attention to Mozart's under-appreciated song repertoire. It works, and it will stand as one of the year's best recordings, a study in first-rate singing, captured in exemplary sound. Be prepared to replace your current favorite soprano: Banse is awesome. [4/26/2003]