Juliane Banse . Martin Helmchen

Once upon a time Juliane Banse sang in deSingel at the beginning of her career when she was a mere snip of a girl. In the meantime, she has conquered the whole world, the large opera houses as well as the concert podiums. Over the years, her velvety timbre has acquired more expression. It is increasingly the young pianist Martin Helmchen who accompanies her. At the age of eleven, this German prodigy entered the Berlin Musikhochschule and at the age of nineteen won the famous Swiss Clara Haskil competition. Between Banse and Helmchen there is something in the air, but only on stage - of course. Their programme reconciles two divergent worlds: they confront the early romantic German Lieder by Schubert with the French mélodie by Liszt and Koechlin. The latter, seemingly a fish out of water, demands a reappraisal. Koechlin was a contemporary of Ravel and Debussy and for years worked as Fauré's assistant. He wrote more than a hundred songs, the earliest of which still have impressionist qualities. What these songs have in common with Liszt's melodies are expansive song lines and exciting orchestral piano parts.