In Search of Benjamin Appl’s Latest Album

Benjamin Appl and György Kurtág on the cover of their new album

Some readers may recall that I first encountered baritone Benjamin Appl in May of 2023 through San Francisco Performances (SFP), when he was the final recitalist in the Art of Song series. This drew my interest to Alpha’s release of his album Forbidden Fruit, on which he was accompanied by pianist James Baillieu, who had also joined him for his SFP recital. The title of Appl’s latest album is Lines of Life, and its “program” involves the alternation of songs by Franz Schubert with those of György Kurtág. This time he has three pianists serving as accompanist on different tracks, one of whom is Kurtág himself. The other two are Baillieu and Pierre-Laurent Aimard. One of the Kurtág tracks also requires both trombone (Csaba Bencze) and tuba (Gergely Lukás). The final Schubert track is followed by a single song by Johannes Brahms, the third in his Opus 47 collection entitled “Sonntag” (Sunday). (There is also an “appendix track” of an interview with Kurtág.)

The alternations between Schubert and Kurtág make the overall listening experience a rough ride. Nevertheless, I have been fascinated by Kurtág for quite some time; and my interest in him on this site dates all the way back to April of 2007 (which is prior to my writing for Examiner.com). It would be fair to say that Kurtág is not afraid of shock value, and Appl may have prepared the ordering of tracks on this album to invoke Schubert for the sake of softening Kurtág’s “blows.” However, I have been interested enough to give this album several listenings; and it would be fair to say that I learn a little bit more of what Kurtág was up to with each encounter.

I have previously told the joke about an introduction to a program that was intense enough that the presenter was reluctant to say, “Enjoy the concert!” He decided, instead, to conclude by saying, “The Force be with you!” I have now listened to this album enough that the “Force” is definitely with me. I look forward to returning to the album and getting to know it even better!

Still, it is worth noting that the above Amazon.com hyperlink leads to a Web page that currently supports only MP3 downloads (even though there is an “Audio CD” option).