“Samsara” refers to the recurring cycle of death and rebirth, which is why mezzo Kate Lindsey chose it as the title of her latest recital disc—and the major song cycles she sings so beautifully, by Robert Schumann and Gabriel Fauré, take women’s points of view about the joys and sorrows of life. Schumann’s Frauenliebe und Leben, which was composed in 1840 (his celebrated “year of lieder,” during which he also wrote his other great cycles Dichterliebe and the two sets of Liederkreis), is remarkable in its piano writing, which in no way sounds like mere accompaniment.

 

 

Fauré’s La Chanson d’Eve, an autumnal work of uncommon grace and sensitivity, is also the fastidious French master’s longest cycle. Several other Schumann lieder and Faure mélodies round out the recording, and pianist Éric Le Sage provides delicate and thoughtful playing to complement Lindsey’s lovely vocal performances.

 

 

 

William Walton—Violin Concerto and Other Orchestral Works 

British composer Wiliam Walton (1902-83) had so much success early on with Façade and his First Symphony that he had to live in their shadows for the rest of his long career—but, as this disc of a trio of his flavorful orchestral works shows, at his best, Walton was as formidable a composer as his contemporary Benjamin Britten. The rousing Portsmouth Point Overture is the earliest piece here (written when Walton was in his early 20s), while the Symphonic Suite from Troilus and Cressida—Walton’s wonderful opera that has never gotten a foothold in the repertoire (I don’t think it’s been staged in New York City since its 1955 City Opera production)—contains Walton’s music at its most dramatic and gripping.

 

 

Finally, there’s his masterly Violin Concerto from the late 1930s, lyrical yet technically demanding and containing a surfeit of melodies and inventive ideas throughout. Charlie Lovell-Jones is the accomplished concerto soloist, and John Wilson leads the Sinfonia of London in perceptive readings of all three works.