ベンヤミン・アップルのクリスマス・アルバム

【ドイツ新時代の名歌手、懐かしき故郷レーゲンスブルクの名門合唱団とのクリスマス】
古楽器オーケストラとの共演から近現代まで幅広いレパートリーで活躍、オペラと歌曲の双方で高い評価を博している新時代ドイツの名歌手ベンヤミン・アップルが歌うクリスマス名曲集。共演は彼の故郷レーゲンスブルクで中世に遡る歴史を持つ名門聖歌隊で、彼が少年時代に初めて本格的な歌唱経験を積んだのもこの団体でのことでした。ミュンヘン放送管弦楽団も加わっての古典的名曲をはじめとするアップルの歌唱はどのトラックでも豊かな温もりにあふれ、清廉な荘厳さをもって曲ごとの特質に合った精緻な解釈をみせるレーゲンスブルク少年合唱団との相性も抜群。ツィターやシュタイアー式アコーディオンが加わるナンバーでのトラッド的躍動感もたまりません。ドイツ各地の古都のクリスマスマーケットのような賑わいと伝統の確かさに貫かれた、馥郁と本場の魅力を感じられる1枚です。
ナクソス・ジャパン

Looking at the track list for this release by baritone Benjamin Appl, one is struck by the diversity of materials here, with Bach cheek by jowl with Max Reger, John Rutter, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, traditional materials, and folk songs of many lands. There are several numbers in regional German dialect. The music may seem to careen rapidly from one style to another; this will be a matter of taste. However, much of the program is linked in one way or another to Appls personal experiences, and this comes through. One charming feature is the presence of Appls mother, Edeltraud Appl, on the concluding Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht ("Silent Night"), playing guitar. The Regensburger Domspatzen boychoir, of which Appl was a member as a youth, is present on many of the numbers and shows impressive control over a variety of styles. Speakers of the various languages are invited to evaluate the degree of idiomatic quality Appl brings to them. In English, he is clearly not a native, but neither is he especially Germanic; the sounds will be pleasant enough for anglophones. The recordings were made partly at the Regensburger Dom and partly in a studio; this adds to the general sense of mixture, and the balances among the forces arent always the best. Yet Appl says that he invites listeners to "relive the wonder of childhood Christmases," and in this sense, the grand mixture works. He puts the listener in a place where everything is heard as if new. This release made classical best-seller lists in the late autumn of 2024. ~ James Manheim