McGreevy & Stone Kynoch Complete Songs, Volume 3 (CD)

Wolf: The Complete Songs Vol. 3: Italienisches Liederbuch is a recording of Hugo Wolfs complete Italienisches Liederbuch, a cornerstone of late Romantic German lieder tradition characterized by intense emotional expression, chromatic harmony and vivid text painting rooted in folk-like Italian love poems. Released in 2012 on Stone Records, the album features soprano Geraldine McGreevy, baritone Mark Stone and pianist Sholto Kynoch, who deliver the cycles two books with their distinct stylistic contrasts, capturing the works playful, devotional and reproachful moods through nuanced phrasing and direct vocal simplicity.This third volume in the comprehensive Hugo Wolf songs series highlights the composers mastery in setting Paul Heyses translations, bridging the five-year gap between the 1890-91 first book and the 1896 second with varied piano accompaniments and subtle key shifts for dramatic relief. McGreevys disarming lightness suits the motto songs intimate charm, while Stones groomed baritone conveys ardent declarations with robust versatility, all underpinned by Kynochs sensitive support that enhances the cycles structural juxtapositions without operatic excess.