Totentanz

Konstantin Krimmel is a former BBC New Generation Artist, and was the 2024 Opus Klassik ‘Singer of the Year’. He performs and records with the acclaimed pianist Ammiel Bushakevitz, and their recitals around Europe and the USA have met with unanimous praise. Tonight, they bring a dramatic programme of ballads by Franz Schubert and Carl Loewe, showing both composers as master storytellers. In the songs by Loewe, the virtuosic thrill of ‘Der Totentanz’ (‘the Dance of Death’) is a wild ride, made even more astonishing by the idea that Loewe might have accompanied himself at the piano, while ‘Der du von dem Himmel bist’ is a reminder that Loewe was also a master of melody. Schubert’s ‘Erlkönig’ is well known as a gamechanger in the history of song, with its hair-raising tale of a father riding with his son at night while the Erlking steals the boy’s soul. By contrast, ‘Nachtstück’ is a calm acceptance in the face of death. Between these two groups of songs, Konstantin and Ammiel include Hugo Wolf’s three songs of the Harper from Goethe’s novel Wilhelm Meister.