Following the iconic series of the complete songs of Schubert and Schumann, Graham Johnson’s latest enterprise traverses the complete songs of Brahms. He is joined here on Volume 2 by the wonderful Christine Schäfer, whose contribution to the Schumann song series won a prestigious Gramophone Award.
On her seventh CD, blues-rocker Christine Santelli shows off her stylistic versatility with a varied program that includes a couple of excursions into country, a nod to New Orleans, a strange and carnivalesuqe number, and plenty of straight-up roots rock. The focus here is on her voice, which is interesting: at its best, it's a dark, smoky, and richly textured instrument, while at its worst it can be almost painfully scratchy and raw…..