Schubert: Klaviersonaten, D. 850 & D. 958 / Margolina
Ars Produktion
Available as
SACD
$21.99
Apr 01, 2022
Pianist Elena Margolina enjoyed an excellent musical education. She completed her studies at the Saint Petersburg State Conservatory with a concert diploma. In 1996 she completed her concert diploma at the Detmold Conservatory of Music with distinction. Elena Margolina is a laureate of several prestigious piano and chamber music competitions. These include the 1st prize at the V. International Schubert Piano Competition in Dortmund in 1995. The artist has successfully taught at the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media, at the Stuttgart University of Music and Performing Arts, and has been active in international master classes (in Germany, Italy, South Korea, Canada, China, Albania, Russia, Ukraine, Israel, Great Britain, among others). Since 2014, Elena Margolina has been a professor of piano at the Hochschule für Musik in Detmold. Elena Margolina completes her Schubert recordings with ARS - the two sonatas D 850 and D 958 can be heard here in a very personal interpretation.
Schubert: Klaviersonaten, D. 850 & D. 958 / Margolina
$21.99
SACD
Ars Produktion
Apr 01, 2022
ARS38331
Schubert: String Quartet No 14 "Death and the Maiden," String Quintet / Pavel Haas Quartet
Supraphon
Available as
CD
$42.99
$32.99
Sep 24, 2013
The Pavel Haas Quartet, of late, has been the focus of much hype and excitement, and I was curious to know what all the fuss is about. Having lived with and listened to these CDs several times over the past week, I now know. Quite simply, not to put too fine a point on it, this recording is a sensation. I was aware when I asked to review this, that it had garnered several rave reviews, and being a lover of both chamber music and Schubert’s in particular, I had great expectations. I’ve not been disappointed.
Founded in 2002, the quartet was named after Pavel Haas, a Czech composer and pupil of Leoš Janá?ek. Tragedy befell Haas; he spent his last days in the camp at Terezin, and died in Auschwitz in 1944. The Quartet has been the recipients of numerous awards and accolades, including the Gramophone Recording of the Year 2011 for a CD of Dvo?ák Quartets. It also has other fine recordings under its belt. There have been several personnel changes along the way before the current line-up. They have recorded all three of the Haas string quartets, pertinently coupling them with those of Janá?ek. I’ve already placed my order.
The pairing of these two works is a very intelligent one. Both are preoccupied with the notion of death and finality. The String Quartet in D minor, D 810 was composed in 1824, four years before Schubert’s death. It is entitled Death and the Maiden; the song of the same name (D 531) provides the theme for the second movement variations. The composer had already been suffering from syphilis for two years and that same year wrote: “Each night when I go to sleep, I hope never to wake again, and each morning serves only to recall the misery of the previous day." From the first declamatory chords of the opening movement you realize that the Pavel Haas mean business. I don’t think I’ve ever heard such a dramatic opening and you are literally kept on the edge of your seat for the rest of the movement. High-powered, passionate and thrilling are the adjectives which best describe this playing. The intense, underlying tension is contrasted with the fervent, heartfelt lyricism of the second subject. Throughout, these young players imbue the music with light and shade. It is not a cosy performance yet ensemble and intonation are faultless.
The dark theme of the second movement is haunting, funereal and filled with pathos - heartfelt and sincere. As the variations unfold, an eloquent dialogue between the individual instruments emerges. Each variation is thoughtfully nuanced and sensitively sculpted, with the players highlighting the dramatic contrasts between the variations. The third movement Scherzo is a rhythmic tour de force. The finale, marked Presto, is almost a tarantella, a dance to ward off the spider’s bite and thus flee from death, with the Pavel Haas conjuring up a musical exorcism. The dotted rhythmic patterns are crisply incisive and the movement is carried off with velocity and élan.
The String Quintet in C major was composed in 1828. This was the last year of Schubert’s short life and a prolifically fruitful year by any standards. During it he composed, amongst other things, the Mass in E flat, the last three Piano Sonatas, the F minor Fantasie for piano duet and this String Quintet. Benjamin Britten, no less, considered this year to be the most miraculous in the history of music. Danjulo Ishizaka is an excellent choice as second cello in the Quintet and blends into the ensemble well. Of German/Japanese origin, he was described by none other than Rostropovich as ‘phenomenal in his technical ability, perfect in his musical creative power’. He certainly brings these gifts to the performance of the Quintet.
I consider this work to be the most sublime piece of chamber music ever written, and the Pavel Haas enter a very crowded playing field, with many outstanding recordings. Some of my favourites that spring to mind are the Lindsays, the Belceas, the Alban Berg and not forgetting, the Hollywood’s 1951 account.
For me, the performance here ticks all the right boxes. From the opening chords, you feel that these young players are taking you on a journey. Having a clear vision and understanding of the structure of the music, they explore its full emotional range. Warmth and expressive phrasing are a distinguishing hallmark. The second movement, the emotional core, is well-paced. There is a tranquillity, an other-worldliness and a sense of resignation in the playing. They bring out the dark and anguished character of the dramatic section. Here one becomes aware of Schubert’s terror of approaching death. The Scherzo is imbued with gusto and energy, the trio, in contrast, being subdued. The finale is truly marked with a gypsy swagger.
Chamber music lovers, I am sure, will want these recordings, and I have no doubt that they will become benchmarks for these two glories of the chamber music repertoire. Recorded sound and balance is second to none; the Domovina Studio, Prague provides an ideal acoustic. Booklet notes by Vlasta Reiffererova supply the essential information. These young players are a force to be reckoned with, and the anticipation and enthusiasm they have earned with the listening public is here proved beyond doubt.
– Stephen Greenbank, MusicWeb International
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Schubert: String Quartet No 14 "Death and the Maiden," String Quintet / Pavel Haas Quartet
$42.99
$32.99
CD
Supraphon
Sep 24, 2013
SU4110-2
Ingrid Haebler Plays Schubert
SWR
Available as
CD
$13.99
Sep 08, 2023
Ingrid Haebler (born in 1929) belongs to the same generation of Viennese pianists as Badura-Skoda, Brendel, Gulda and Demüs. In 1954 (approx. the period when the recordings on this album took place) she won the ARD competition, then as today a quality seal and a guarantee for a successful career (which she enjoyed). However, considerable disagreement has long surrounded her interpretations: for some she is a model because of her flawless technique and the absolute poise of her music-making; for others, she is virtually a symbol of academic discipline. However, her recordings were considered good enough to be used in the faked recordings of the pianist Joyce Hatto – which, when uncovered, led to one of the big and quite unique scandals in the history of music performance.
Ingrid Haebler Plays Schubert
$13.99
CD
SWR
Sep 08, 2023
SWR19435CD
Schubert: Piano Duets, Vol. 1
CRD Records
Available as
CD
$20.99
Jan 01, 1994
Classical Music
Schubert: Piano Duets, Vol. 1
$20.99
CD
CRD Records
Jan 01, 1994
CRD3465
Melodist - Schubert: Music for Solo Piano / Gaudet
Analekta
Available as
CD
$20.99
Mar 08, 2024
Schubert composed his Sonata No. 4 in A minor (D. 537), a work of unabashed Romanticism, in 1817. Whilst the outer movements are highly dramatic in character, the central slow movement features a long and enchanting melody of an almost fragile delicacy. He returned to this melody eleven years later in 1828, using it as the theme of the last movement of the Sonata No. 19 in A major D. 959, his penultimate sonata. This Allegretto is perhaps the most "Schubertian" of all: it is generous, graceful, full of hope despite a weighty melancholy, and always in motion. Schubert’s return to the melody that he had composed when he was twenty years old attests his particular love for it; it was his personal hymn, his secret melody.
Melodist - Schubert: Music for Solo Piano / Gaudet
$20.99
CD
Analekta
Mar 08, 2024
AN952
Schubert + Beethoven
BIS
Available as
SACD
$21.99
Aug 15, 2025
For the fifth instalment of the critically acclaimed Schubert+ series, Can Cakmur juxtaposes the Viennese composer with his illustrious elder Ludwig van Beethoven, for the first time in this series. After establishing his mastery of the lied genre, Schubert still had to show his full potential in the realm of piano sonatas, a quintessentially Beethovenian form. In his Sonata in A major, D 664, he abandons the traditionally oppositional nature of the sonata in favour of a melody- based narrative in which landscapes appear to change gradually, as if seen from a traveller's perspective, thus offering a conception that is as new as it is personal. Beethoven is represented here by a series of variations, a genre in which he also excelled. The 32 Variations in C minor range from tender yearning to an emotional turmoil reminiscent of the 'Appassionata' Sonata. In the Sonata in C minor, D 958, composed in 1828, the first of his towering final trilogy, Schubert staked his claim to be seen as Beethoven's successor as a writer of piano sonatas. In a work that Can Cakmur sees as a tribute to Beethoven, Schubert achieves a synthesis of the master's influence and the lyricism of his own early sonatas. Just weeks before his death, the younger composer finally sits beside the older master and converses with him on equal terms.
Schubert + Beethoven
$21.99
SACD
BIS
Aug 15, 2025
BIS-2750
Die schone Mullerin
Signum Classics
Available as
CD
$19.99
Jun 19, 2026
This album presents a new arrangement of Franz Schubert's song cycle Die schone Mullerin, performed by baritone Roderick Williams with the Carducci Quartet. Originally composed in 1823 for voice and piano, the cycle sets poems by Wilhelm Muller that trace the emotional journey of a young miller through hope, love, jealousy and despair. In this recording, the piano part is reimagined for string quartet, drawing out the implied instrumental textures in Schubert's writing while preserving the narrative flow of the songs. The arrangement offers a fresh perspective on the work's structure and atmosphere, highlighting it's central Romantic themes of nature, longing and reflection.
Schubert: String Quartets D 810, D 804 / Budapest Quartet
CBS Masterworks
Available as
CD
$17.99
Jan 11, 2008
SCHUBERT: STRING QUARTETS D 81
Schubert: String Quartets D 810, D 804 / Budapest Quartet
$17.99
CD
CBS Masterworks
Jan 11, 2008
SONY45696
MASS NO. 6 IN E-FLAT MAJOR, D
Audite Musikproduktion
Available as
SACD
$21.99
Jun 01, 2005
MASS NO. 6 IN E-FLAT MAJOR, D
MASS NO. 6 IN E-FLAT MAJOR, D
$21.99
SACD
Audite Musikproduktion
Jun 01, 2005
AUD92541
Soprano's Schubertiade / Sampson, Middleton
BIS
Available as
SACD
$21.99
May 11, 2018
Schubert’s empathy with women is evident in his body of songs, which include songs to, by, about and for women. Devised by Carolyn Sampson and Joseph Middleton, the present recital brings us each of those possibilities and more. The playwright Helmina von Chézy wrote the text to the tender Romanze, intending it for the play Rosamunde, Princess of Cyprus to which Schubert composed incidental music. Another female author, Marianne von Willemer, wrote the two Suleika poems for Goethe, who included them (under his own name) in the collection West-östlicher Divan. And no less than seven of the other songs on the album are also associated with Goethe, and his characters Mignon (from Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre) and Gretchen (from Faust). Schubert was for a while almost obsessed with the mysterious and waif-like Mignon, making several settings of the poems associated with her. Less of an enigma but equally moving, Schubert’s Gretchen sings of awakening desire (Gretchen am Spinnrade) and laments her coming disgrace (Gretchens Bitte). Carolyn Sampson and Joseph Middleton have collaborated on several acclaimed projects for BIS, most recently with the counter-tenor Iestyn Davies as their companion. Here they close their Soprano’s Schubertiade with three settings of poems by Walter Scott, albeit in German translations. The three ‘Ellen Songs’ are from the verse-romance The Lady of the Lake from 1810, with the last one, ‘Schubert’s Ave Maria’, being one of the composer’s best-known and most loved compositions.
Soprano's Schubertiade / Sampson, Middleton
$21.99
SACD
BIS
May 11, 2018
BIS-2343
Winter Journey / Glynn, Williams
Signum Classics
Available as
CD
$19.99
$14.99
Apr 13, 2018
Celebrated soloists Roderick Wiliams and Christopher Glynn perform a new English translation of Franz Schubert’s Winterreise. Composed in 1827 whilst in the grip of the illness that would ultimately kill him, Schubert’s setting of Wilhelm Muller’s poetry takes on an added tragic interpretation as it follows the narrative of a spurned lover travelling through a cold and barren landscape. Christopher Glynn writes on this new recording: “We hope this Winter Journey can offer English-speaking listeners a way to experience the story’s sense alongside the music’s sound, with something of the same directness that Schubert surely intended when he sat down at the piano in 1827 and sang these songs for the first time to his friends.” This release is the first in a series of three English language programmes of Schubert’s song cycles. Future releases include The Shepherd on the Rock (Der Hirt auf dem Felsen) and The Fair Maid of the Mill (Die schöne Müllerin).
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Winter Journey / Glynn, Williams
$19.99
$14.99
CD
Signum Classics
Apr 13, 2018
SIGCD531
SCHUBERT: Schwanengesang, D. 957
Haenssler Classic
Available as
CD
$5.99
Mar 15, 2004
Classical Music
SCHUBERT: Schwanengesang, D. 957
$5.99
CD
Haenssler Classic
Mar 15, 2004
98388
Schubert: Piano Works, Vol. 2 - Fantasies
Haenssler Classic
Available as
CD
$20.99
Jan 17, 2025
Bushakevitz's playing gleams with understated wit and sensuality - a catalogue of emotions GRAMOPHONE MAGAZINE. "A very special pianist - Bushakevitz is a master of expression. His playing is filled with a sense of longing and nostalgia." THE JERUSALEM POST. "As always, Bushakevitz was detailed, nuanced and with great lyrical flair for pieces that require both a display of formal technique and improvisational instinct" SCHERZO
Schubert: Piano Works, Vol. 2 - Fantasies
$20.99
CD
Haenssler Classic
Jan 17, 2025
HC24025
Schubert: Complete Overtures / Christian Benda, Prague Sinfonia
Naxos AudioVisual
Available as
Blu-Ray
$21.99
Oct 25, 2011
This is an audio-only (i.e., with no video content) Blu-ray disc playable only on Blu-ray players.
Schubert wrote his first theatrical work when he was fourteen and his hopes of success in the genre, never truly realised, were long lasting. He wrote concert overtures and music for Singspiele (Song-plays), in some of which he was guided by his teacher, Salieri. The music for the melodrama Die Zauberharfe (The Magic Harp) is better known as the Overture to Rosamunde, but evidence of his captivating vitality, tunefulness and theatricality is everywhere to be heard.
Reviews of the original CD versions.
You may feel drawn to this disc out of a sense of duty. You know that you ought to know more of Schubert’s overtures than the so-called “Rosamunde” or the Overtures in the Italian Style. So you put this disc on – and are immediately transported with a sense of sheer delight. What is more, this continues throughout the disc as one engaging work follows another. At the end you pour yourself another cup of Earl Grey and start again. Well, at least that was my experience.
You may know all of these early works already and have scores or good recordings of them, in which case none of this will come as a surprise. For those who do not, let me explain that the nine overtures on this disc are all relatively early works written for a variety of purposes. Some are for operas or plays, some are concert works, and the last was probably written for a Cantata in honour of the Chief Inspector of Elementary Schools, a man also in charge of the fund for teachers’ widows. Despite that it is a very engaging piece. The notes by Keith Anderson helpfully explain the origins of each Overture, but I doubt whether you would be able to distinguish which is which without those notes. They are however unfailingly attractive, most with slow introductions followed by sonata-form movements. If you enjoy Schubert’s first three Symphonies, you will certainly enjoy these pieces which are very much in a similar vein and with similar virtues, especially in respect of the very characteristic scoring. Over and over again the listener will find themselves delighted by a turn of phrase, an unexpected harmony or deft orchestration.
Although clearly this is essentially down to the composer, much of the pleasure of the disc is also due to the bright but affectionate performances by the Prague Sinfonia, an expanded version of the Prague Chamber Orchestra. Christian Benda comes from a very distinguished family of Czech musicians and directs performances that are just right for these pieces, avoiding on the one hand blandness and on the other excessive point making. The recording quality is clear and full.
You will have gathered by now that I have had considerable pleasure from this disc. Completeness can be a mixed blessing, but on this occasion I am very glad that Naxos have decided to do this in respect of a category as unexpected as Schubert’s Overtures.
-- John Sheppard, MusicWeb International
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As this second volume of overtures shows, there really is quite a bit of little-known Schubert orchestral music. Perhaps the biggest discovery for many listeners will be the turbulent Overture in E minor, but there are more than a few substantial pieces here. The two Overtures in the Italian Style are delightful, and so true to their models, and all of the music here is very well played and recorded. Benda and the Prague Sinfonia deliver a particularly vivacious account of the Rosamunde Overture, just the opposite of the thick and heavy "German" approach that we so often hear, while Fierabras also has plenty of energy. The sonics capture the players very naturally, with nicely present woodwinds and excellent balances between brass and strings. No qualms here: Go for it.
--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com
Schubert: Complete Overtures / Christian Benda, Prague Sinfonia
Schubert’s Arpeggione Sonata has today become part of the cello repertoire but it was originally written for the arpeggione, a form of bowed guitar invented by the Viennese maker Johann Georg Staufer in 1823. With a unique ethereal sound, this instrument reveals the true beauty of Schubert’s initial conception. The Piano Trio No. 2 was performed at the Vienna Musikverein on the first anniversary of Beethoven’s death – its extremes of urgent drama and sublime bittersweet lyricism are characteristic of Schubert’s artistic surge during his final year.
The last years of Schubert’s life were clouded by illness, so thoughts of the afterlife cannot have been far from his mind. For their latest recital for BIS, Carolyn Sampson and Joseph Middleton present an all-Schubert recital themed around Elysium, the mythical idea of a blessed and happy eternal future, with texts that explore different states of the afterlife by well-known authors such as Goethe, Rückert and Schiller as well as by lesser-known ones. Opening with a hymn to the divine in nature, this recital in turn evokes distant realms, blissful eternity and dream-filled sleep, before concluding with a farewell to the earth; from the passion and doubt of Die junge Nonne (The Young Nun) to the beautiful and touching Du bist die Ruh (You are peace).
Carolyn Sampson and Joseph Middleton have released several acclaimed discs for BIS, including Album für die Frau, a collection of songs by Clara and Robert Schumann and A Soprano’s Schubertiade, a Schubert anthology, named ‘Recording of the Month’ by MusicWeb International and ‘CD-Tipp’ by BR Klassik.
REVIEW:
I love it when a conceptual framework provides an occasion for performers to program music they might not always prioritize. This sagely programmed and beautifully sung (and played) recital of Schubert Lieder offers an attractive balance between Schubert’s most beloved songs and songs that rarely appear on recital programs – all connected via their texts’ exploration of the blissful attitude toward death exemplified in the concept of Elysium, from which this album takes its title.
This SACD boasts the superb sound quality that one associates with BIS. Hardly a damper sound or an audible breath intrudes on the performance; we are presented with the full dynamic range of each musician; and we hear the kind of warmth and resonance we might enjoy in a private chamber performance. I give this album my highest recommendation.
-- Fanfare
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Elysium - A Schubert Recital / Sampson, Middleton
$21.99
$15.99
SACD
BIS
Mar 03, 2023
BIS-2573
SCHUBERT
Sony Masterworks
Available as
CD
$12.98
$6.49
Apr 14, 2017
· The first ever German album of Natalie Dessay (Her first Schubert album – Her first Lieder album)· 4 Lieder have never been sung by a woman before· Recorded with Philipp Cassard (piano) in Berlin, Siemensvilla on November 28th – December 3rd, 2016· From Schiller and Goethe to Heine, the Schubertian Lied, which is based on the best German poets, is a reflection of the intimate thoughts of the composer who realizes an outstanding fusion between the poetic verb and the musical lyricism.
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SCHUBERT
$12.98
$6.49
CD
Sony Masterworks
Apr 14, 2017
88985419882
Schubert: The Unauthorised Piano Duos, Vol. 3 / Goldstone, Clemmow
Divine Art
Available as
CD
$19.99
Jul 10, 2015
The veteran British piano duo of Anthony Goldstone and Caroline Clemmow present two major world premieres: the first recording of the piano duet transcription by lieder-writer Robert Franz of the ‘Death and the Maiden’ Quartet, and the first recording of the ‘Unfinished’ Symphony in a full four-movement performing edition for piano duet including arrangements by Anselm Hüttenbrenner (Schubert’s friend), Anthony Goldstone, and Friedrich Hermann. It includes a completion of Schubert’s part finished Scherzo and the Rosamunde Entr’acte, widely believed to have been the intended finale.
Schubert: The Unauthorised Piano Duos, Vol. 3 / Goldstone, Clemmow
The Danish baritone Johan Reuter often sings leading roles at the New York Metropolitan Opera and is in high demand all over the world. He also loves the lied repertoire, however, and the work closest to his heart is the Schubert song cycle Winterreise (Winter Journey). For this new release, he wanted to record it not with the usual piano accompanist, but in an arrangement for string quartet. Richard Krug from the Copenhagen String Quartet made this highly idiomatic transcription of the piano part and the result is deeper, more moving and with full sound than in the original. This is truly a unique experience. Johan Reuter studied at the Royal Academy of Music and the Academy of the Royal Theatre in his hometown of Copenhagen. He frequented masterclasses of Ernst Haefliger, Anthony Rolfe-Johnson and Richard Trimborn. Since 1996 he has been a soloist of the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, where he sings a large repertoire.
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