Abstract
The British baritone Simon Keenlyside and pianist Malcom Martineau dedicate their Zurich recital to German and French song. The two perform Mörike-Lieder by Hugo Wolf, songs from Schubert's Schwanengesang and works by Claude Debussy and Gabriel Fauré. The selected Brahms songs and Maurice Ravel's short song cycle Histoires naturelles, based on animal poems by Jules Renard, bear witness to the fact that Keenlyside originally wanted to become a zoologist and enjoys spending time in the great outdoors: the main roles here are played by a vain peacock, a diligent cricket, a voracious swan, a majestic kingfisher and a funny guinea fowl.