Mezzo-soprano Olivia Vermeulen and pianist Jan Philip Schulze demonstrate on their new album how finiteness provides endless listening pleasure. Hello Darkness. Death sounds like friend and foe in a combination of song, musical and pop.
The mythological princess Ariadne, forsaken by her love, has not yet begged for the comforting death in Lasciatemi morire of Monteverdi, or the sung farewell letter Listen Before I Go by electro pop star Billie Eilish has already been deployed. Vermeulen’s Ariadne is plainly bald and sad, her Billie Eilish just thin and resigned.
With Schubert songs, the dream duo embraces Nick Caves The Curse of Millhaven, about a cute girl who kills half her village. Black humorous, the multicolored Vermeulen is also from Morticia The Addams Family. in Strauss (befreit) she is just warm and light. Korngold’s music is tailor-made for her. Expressive, wistful and hopeful: ‘Das Herz […], Wird ohne Ende brennen’.
Olivia Vermeulen & Jan Philip Schulze
Hello Darkness
Classic
★★★★ ☆
challenge
What new music has been released and what do the experts think of de Volkskrant of them? Check out our music page with this week’s album, all reviews and the tracks of the week.
