This collection of classical songs and lieder features Chilean baritone Jeorge Braithwaite, accompanied by pianist Felipe Browne. The composers range from Bach, Handel and Mozart, through Schubert and Beethoven to Massenet and Fauré. Most of the songs speak of the joys and trials of love and romance, while the lieder’s subjects range more widely (as their translated titles indicate). Mr. Braithwaite has a pleasant though not powerful or operatic voice, and the piano accompaniment is well done. The selection highlights well-known, beautiful songs, and can be enjoyed particularly by a young audience, for whom the duo usually performs in their native land. Mr. Braithwaite presented the CD set to KZSU’s Charlotte T. in Chile with this note (slightly edited):

“While working as an architect in Chile, I started formal singing lessons at age 50. My teacher was Ricardo Kistler, a Swiss professor, an outstanding director of the Chamber Choir of the Catholic University of Chile, and teacher of some of the leading solo voices of the Chilean lyric stage. I completed my musical training with professor Erika Vöhringer and, in Germany, with professors Peter Frank, Marcela Holzapfel, and Susanne Graf-Helf.
Pianist Felipe Browne and I have brought classical music to thousands of low-income children who are educated in vulnerable areas in Santiago and its surroundings.
My repertoire includes German lieder, ancient Italian arias, opera arias and French chanson. I think that this type of music represents a great experience for listeners. We live in a time when noise and the ephemeral prevail, drowning out the voices of the spirit. I view classical music as nourishment for the soul.
The oldest piece on these CDs is the madrigal "Amarilli" (1601), written by the Italian composer Giulio Caccini. The most modern is "Musica proibita," written by the Italian Estanislao Gastaldon (c. 1900). I love all the pieces on these CDs. But, if I had to choose, I feel special devotion for the Schubert, Schumann, Brahms and Beethoven lieder because of the depth of their texts and the refined beauty of their melodies.