Benjamin Appl en James Baillieu - Forbidden Fruit

Benjamin Appl and James Baillieu

Benjamin Appl and James Baillieu take a kaleidoscopic journey through time and space during their recital Forbidden Fruit . They previously released the project on CD. Reviews of this project describe Appl's sound as rich and velvety. His lyrical lines are also praised. While some songs are about love and sensuality, others focus on less accepted and more sensitive subjects. The German baritone provides each of these stories with passion and drama, closely accompanied by the South African James Baillieu, with whom he has been working for some time.

Forbidden Fruit

'I can resist anything except temptation.' Oscar Wilde's famous aphorism touches on the theme of tonight's recital. 'Temptation, prohibition, good, evil... how relevant are these concepts in today's world?', asks Benjamin Appl. Together with pianist James Baillieu, he takes the listener on a musical journey from simple folk songs to great lieder composers such as Schubert, Schumann and Wolf, with the French masters Debussy and Poulenc along the way, and also the new objectivity of Weill and Eisler is explored. The metaphor of the forbidden fruit gives Appl and Baillieu a wide range of possible interpretations.