Mark Padmore’s interpretations are known for spontaneity, perfect articulation and discernment. For the born Londoner, who trained as a tenor at Kings’ College in Cambridge only after studying the clarinet, and who has sung with groups like the Hilliard Ensemble and The Sixteen, it’s always about “the idea behind every single word, about the content.”

This is why Padmore always considers the historical context of the works he prepares: “We know that the contemporary interpreters ornamented Schubert. Christoph Prégardien has successfully implemented this knowledge together with experts like Andreas Staier, and the result – in my opinion – is fantastic. We need more of these musicians and fewer who are interested only in a perfect rendition of the music on the page.”

Besides presenting songs by Beethoven and Schubert, together with the English pianist Julius Drake, one of the great Lied interpreters of the present day, Mark Padmore will focus on Britten’s Hölderlin Fragments and the Canticle III op. 55 for tenor, horn and piano Still falls the Rain based on a poem by Edith Sitwell. Stefan Dohr, principal horn of the Berliner Philharmoniker, will take on the horn part; he will also perform Beethoven’s horn sonata op. 17 – at its premiere on 18 April 1800 in the Viennese Hofburgtheater, the work was so very successful that, as the Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung reported, “the virtuosi [...] were moved by very loud applause” to “start the work anew once it was over and play it through once more.”