Yesterday I was at the Heidelberger Frühling, visiting Thomas Hampson's Liederabend. When we bought the tickets, it was indicated, that he might be singing Schumann's op. 39, something, that Thomas did not yet sing or record. Sadly that had been reverted to op. 35, and the concert also did cover Liszt songs and some of the Rückert songs by Mahler.

It seems, Thomas had hay fever, like many in the audience. That coughing "even in the quietest moments" is a bad habit, that does seem to get worse every time. Thomas was (due to the hay fever?) not as good, it seemed, he had some problems with the upper notes, but still, his voice is good, and his pronunciation of german is exquisit.

So, with some mixed emotions, I did enjoy the concert, but had heard better of him already.

Matthias