Baritone Benjamin Appl’s New Album, “Lines of Life: Schubert and Kurtág”

Released on Alpha Classics, baritone Benjamin Appl sings works by Kurtág, Schubert, and Brahms

The German baritone Benjamin Appl has released “Lines of Life: Schubert and Kurtág,” which features Romantic German lieder by Schubert and Brahms with vocal pieces by the Hungarian composer György Kurtág — five of which are world premiere recordings.

Appl has worked with Kurtág since 2019. Kurtág, who recently celebrated his 99th birthday, is featured on this album both as a pianist and composer, plus provided artistic direction for all the recordings.

Other featured pianists on the album are Appl’s close collaborators Pierre-Laurent Aimard and James Baillieu. 

Involving everything a solo baritone or a baritone and piano can perform, the album’s inclusion of Schubert’s songs and the Sonntag by Brahms reflects Kurtág’s memories of his wife and singer Márta. 

The album also includes a recorded interview with Kurtág, who is affectionately known to Appl as Gyuri bácsi (“Uncle George”). 

To purchase and listen to the album, click here. 

“Benjamin first came to me for the Hölderlin-Gesänge in 2018, and then we started working on other songs,” Kurtág said. “Music fills my everyday life. I still read literature and everything else that interests me. I also compose and teach, but somehow everything always revolves around music.”

“[Kurtág] has shaped me both as a musician and as a human being, perhaps more than anyone else,” Appl reflected in a press release. “My aim in this album is to give listeners a glimpse into the infinite universe of György Kurtág, a shy procrastinator, stern self-critic, hesitant researcher, introverted questioner, unpretentious intellectual, brilliant composer and an extraordinary human being.”

A video of Appl performing with Kurtág can be viewed below.