Pianist and composer Brad Mehldau is one of the giants of jazz, with a breathtaking catalogue of albums from solo improvisation to fully orchestrated works for jazz ensemble. From time to time, Mehldau has dipped his toe in the world of classical song, notably in 2006 with Love Sublime, a collection of Rilke settings written for and performed by soprano Renée Fleming. Here Mehldau collaborates with tenor Ian Bostridge on a jazz-infused song cycle that explores elements of love, from lust to innocent devotion, through poems by Auden, Blake, Shakespeare, Yeats, Goethe and more. It’s a beautiful collection that features all the hallmarks of Mehldau’s fascinating harmonic palette, with hints of Hanns Eisler, Kurt Weill and Broadway.
- 2007
- Keith Jarrett
- Christian Gerhaher, Piotr Beczala & Gerold Huber
- Claudio Abbado, Anne Sofie von Otter & Vienna Philharmonic
- Wynton Marsalis, Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra & The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
- Jessye Norman
- London Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Walter Goehr & Hermann Scherchen
- Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège, Gergely Madaras, Jennifer Holloway & Véronique Gens