Dutch baritone
Henk Neven makes an impressive debut with
Auf einer Burg, his solo album for Onyx, a collection of songs by Carl Loewe and
Robert Schumann.
Neven has a vibrant, warmly resonant voice with a bass-baritonal quality that's absolutely solid and technically secure throughout his range, and his intonation and enunciation are immaculate. He has a well-controlled, fast vibrato that he uses judiciously for expressive purposes, and he can move seamlessly into a lovely mezzo voce in his upper register. He brings an intelligent and strongly articulated perspective to each of the songs. Particularly in the Loewe songs, some of which are like little operatic scenas, his gifts for acute characterization are on full display, for example in the powerfully memorable ballad Herr Oluf and the humorous Hinkende Jamben ("Limping iambics"). Loewe's richly melodic and strikingly dramatic songs aren't heard as often on recitals and recordings as they were in earlier eras, so it's pleasant to have these nine attractive songs featured on the album.
Neven's gifts for nuanced musical subtlety are especially evident in the songs of
Schumann's psychologically probing Liederkreis cycle, where his sensuous phrasing, ample tone, and poignant expressive insights are attention-grabbing. The more introspective songs like "Intermezzo," "Mondnacht," and "Wehmut," which predominate in the cycle, have an affecting emotional transparency, but
Neven also brings plenty of energy to the more assertive songs, like "Waldesgespräch." Pianist
Hans Eijsackers provides an exquisitely attentive and shapely accompaniment. The sound is clean, clear, detailed, and realistic. This is an album that should appeal to fans of vocal music interested in following singers at the beginning of their careers, and to any fan of terrific singing.