Schubert’s music is a natural human phenomenon, a simultaneous expression of unfathomable creation and the human soul; hope, reason and particularly longing exist in perfect...

Schubert’s music is a natural human phenomenon, a simultaneous expression of unfathomable creation and the human soul; hope, reason and particularly longing exist in perfect happiness: an almost inconceivable wealth of melodies, rhythms and harmonies create a heartfelt musical world from which any unkindness is banished. Gilbert Schuchter’s outstanding merit lies in the fact that he is the first and so far only musician to play these works for piano in the full awareness of Franz Schubert’s lied creations, with their lyric and epic foundation and their dance element- in particular the waltz. Bar lines play no dominating role in Schubert, and freely modulating tempi are an indispensable component of any interpretation; this music is not elitist, knows no boundaries, “speaks all languages”. This is why this recording, made in 1968/1970 on a Bosendorfer grand piano in Vienna’s Casino Baumgartner Studio, is still as valid as ever in 2017.