In this debut album, baritone Jonas Muller and the Tomasi Musso Guitar Duo have recorded Schubert's Winterreise. The arrangement for two guitars creates a special new three-dimensional chamber music constellation, which certainly demands a different approach to singing from the singer, who must now internalise what the piano used to bring out. This is particularly in keeping with the idea that Winterreise is not simply a collection of songs composed by a travelling French horn player, but that the existential encounter between the stranger and the hurdy-gurdy man gives rise to new songs that have never been heard before and can only be sung together.

After A Soprano's Schubertiade (BIS-2343) and Elysium (BIS-2573), Carolyn Sampson and Joseph Middleton present a new recital devoted to Schubert's songs on the theme of the changing seasons. While there have also been other successful celebrations of the four seasons in music, Franz Schubert, a lover of nature, here evokes them in his lieder. Winter, imbued with nostalgia, is represented here by three songs in which the Schubertian hero sings of lost love. But gloomy thoughts soon give way to spring, synonymous with optimism and hope as nature returns to life: 'Welcome, with your happy swarm of newly awakened creatures around me.' If life is in full swing during the summer, the hero now seems uncertain about the happy outcome of his quest for love. In autumn, evoked here by six songs, the hero can only acknowledge his failure, reflected by nature preparing for a months-long sleep: 'Ah, as the stars disappear in the sky, so does life's hope fade away.' Clarinettist Michael Collins joins the duo for one song, 'Der Hirt auf dem Felsen', Schubert's penultimate composition. Inspired by yodelling, this extended lied ends with the hope of a better life, with spring just around the corner and the prophetic words of 'now I shall prepare/to go a-wandering' heralding the composer's approaching death.

This new double-album by pianist Lars Vogt, violinist Christian Tetzlaff and cellist Tanja Tetzlaff includes some of Franz Schubert's greatest works of chamber music, including his Piano Trios and the Arpeggione Sonata in breath-taking interpretations. Pianist Lars Vogt tragically passed away on September 5, 2022 due to a serious illness before this album of Schubert’s chamber music was released. This album stands as a testament of his outstanding chamber musicianship together with his long-time chamber music partners Christian Tetzlaff and Tanja Tetzlaff. “If not much time remains, then it’s a worthy farewell. - - Incomprehensible. Such expression. Such fragility, such love.”

REVIEWS:

These are studio recordings made in separate sessions in 2021. Everything one could want in Schubert’s Piano Trios is present: rhythmic buoyancy, beautiful phrasing, united ensemble playing that still leaves room for individual voices, and inner joy in the music-making. There’s also the ineffable feeling of sympathy among three friends who feel free to be themselves without departing from the wholeness of a performance.

-- Fanfare

These 2020–2021 recordings containing the complete extant works for piano trio of Franz Schubert and featuring the well-known trio of cellist Tanja Tetzlaff, pianist Lars Vogt, and Tanja’s brother, violinist Christian Tetzlaff, are being released at this time partly in memory of Vogt’s untimely passing in September of last year. The recollections of both Tetzlaffs and their dignified expressions of sorrow for the loss of a longtime friend and collaborator who will certainly be very difficult to replace as the piano voice of the trio are most eloquent and moving.

In two well-filled CDs we are given all the music Schubert is known to have written for piano, violin and cello, including Piano Trios No. 1 in B-flat, D898 (Op. 99) and No. 2 in E-flat Major, D929 (Op. 100), the indescribably lovely Notturno in E-flat, D897, which was originally intended as the slow movement of Trio No. 1; a “Rondo brillant” in B Minor. D895; and a fine arrangement for cello and piano of the “Arpeggione” Sonata in A Minor, D821. The last-named gave new viability to a richly textured work originally written for a hybrid instrument that was soon considered strictly from Vaudeville and vanished from the musical scene.

All these works receive a stamp of excellence for the artistry Vogt and the Tetzlaffs apply here.

-- Audio Video Club of Atlanta (Phil Muse)

Franz Schubert's Moments Musicaux was published in 1828 but partly written in previous years. After Beethoven's monumental 32 sonatas there were no longer a desire from publishers' point of view to print "sonatas", and as a result composers tried to find alternative titles to shorter pieces such as Impromptus, Nocturnes etc. Probably the second set of Schubert's Impromptus were intended as a sonata (at least according to Schumann), but after protests from the publisher ended up as 4 Impromptus. In the case of Schubert this was in a way an advantage. For although some of his sonatas are among the best music ever written, they were a result of a big struggle to try to live up mto Beethoven. But for him it was the most natural thing in this world to put anything he experienced into music - water flowing, hunting scenes, galloping horses, thunder and more than anything else the best thing he knew - walking. Actually, it is important for any musician approaching Schubert in terms of tempi to take into consideration that there is almost always an element of "walking". This ability is of course the reason for the enorm us number of songs - more than 600! "Give Schubert a menu card - and he will put it into music"! John Damgaard John Damgaard - a student of Georg Vasarhelyi, Ilona Kabos and Wilhelm Kempff - was assistant professor at The Royal Danish Academy of Music from 1969-84, and from 1984-2007 professor at the Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus. Since many years he is guest professor at Musashino Academia Musicae in Tokyo, Japan, as well as guest professor at the Australian National Academy of Music in Melbourne.

From the first notes, the snowy steps of "Fremd bin ich eingezogen" (As a stranger I arrived), the new recording of Schubert's "Winterreise" by the GewandhausChor makes one sit up and take notice: Choirmaster Gregor Meyer has arranged one of the most paramount lieder cycles for his "instrument", the choir, and makes virtuosic use of the possibilities offered by the ensemble's polyphony and sonority. Meyer has split the original piano part between two accordions, played here by Heidi and Uwe Steger. Their instruments are astonishingly close to the human voice, breathing, shouting, whispering, and singing. Tobias Berndt, an accomplished lied singer, takes on the baritone solo part in this recording with the choir of one of the most renowned concert halls.

The first of two discs by Pieter Wispelwey that will be released in 2023 is a re-assembling of previously released recordings of works by Schubert. This short series is titled In Memoriam and is inspired by a grave loss Pieter suffered a few months ago. The disc includes Schubert’s masterpieces for violin and piano, transcribed for cello – and the most famous Trockne Blumen, originally for flute. To accompany Pieter on piano is his faithful musical companion Paolo Giacometti.

From 8.501207 Idil Biret Concertos and Slow Music Edition

For generations, the noble family of the House of Szechenyi have played a decisive role in shaping Hungary's destiny. Katharina Ruckgaber and Tamas Egresi, accompanied by Helmut Deutsch, have compiled a representative selection of songs from the large repertoire of poems and compositions; an impressive testimony to the wide-ranging interests and talents of one of Europe's most important aristocratic families.

Schubert called Winterreise a cycle of "truly terrible songs," not only for it's immersive and dark subject matter but also for the compositional process itself. It is the Mount Everest of Song cycles, a form that Schubert himself perfected. Written on poems by Wilhelm Muller (1794-1827), the songs describe a timeless tale of heartbreak: boy meets girl, girl rejects boy, boy is overcome by existential feelings and sets out on a solitary winter's journey that may result in his demise. But Schubert's genius would not allow him to be content with vapid superficialities: when Schubert set these poems to music, he was confronting his own probable fate, one of agonizing pain and isolation. An unforgettable journey through one of the most powerful musical depictions of desolation Winterreise was originally composed for the tenor voice, but it has been frequently transposed to accommodate the whole gamut of vocal tessituras. Danish bass-baritone and musical scholar Jakob Bloch Jespersen has mastered a range of repertoire from Schutz to Schierbecks and well into the 21st century. His burnished resonance and restrained sensitivity well serve this existential Schubertiade. His partner, fortepianist Sharon Prushansky brings her expertise in music of the Classical and early Romantic eras, utilizing the full panoply of pianistic Affekt available to her on Robert Brown's 2015 instrument after an original by Jakob Bertsche (ca. 1810-1815). Particularly noteworthy to this instrument are it's six pedals, which serve the purpose of changing the quality and colour of the sound, including the infamous "bassoon stop!" A third, silent partner also contributes to this extraordinary production: the haunting, sepia-toned landscapes by the great Danish photographer, Tove Kurtzweil. Together, Jakob Bloch Jespersen and Sharon Prushansky take you on an unforgettable journey through one of the most powerful musical depictions of desolation this side of Mahler!

Discover the timeless beauty of Franz Schubert's music with this double album. This compilation showcases some of his finest works for piano four hands, composed during his final years. Be enchanted by the Fantasy in F minor, the powerful "Lebenssturme," the Fugue in E minor, and the gentle Rondo in A major. Experience the impressive "Grand Duo" and the exquisite Variations in A-flat major from the summer of 1824. Immerse yourself in the emotional depth and human drama that Schubert masterfully captures like no other - a true treasure trove of piano artistry.

For her 10th anniversary with Berlin Classics, the US pianist Claire Huangci presents herself and her label with a weighty recording project, Schubert's late sonatas D 894, D 958, D 959, and D 960, as well as the Three Piano Pieces D 946 and a selection of songs from Schwanengesang. She accompanies the baritone Thomas E. Bauer in four of the songs and plays two in an arrangement by Franz Liszt. To be heard in a box with three albums under the title META.

META stands for the importance of Schubert's music in Claire Huangci's personal and musical life. Schubert's compositions, which she has played since her earliest youth, "show my development, that reflects unconscious emotions," as she writes in the booklet. Schubert's music is "the music I would like to take with me to a desert island...Schubert has accompanied me through all times", especially the late sonatas, which are at the center of the META box.

The latest instalment in this popular series takes us through the life and times of Franz Schubert. Written by Davinia Caddy, narrated by Leighton Pugh, and featuring a wide selection of musical excerpts from the Naxos catalogue and affiliated labels.

Insomnia is a persistent or recurrent sleeplessness. When we sleep fitfully or lie awake night after night, we conjure up all manner of images, fantasies and feelings, which in the hours of darkness or twilight mostly seem confused, larger than life and very existential. That is how it is with our choice of Lieder. The pieces examine the great feelings and issues like love, death, hate, yearning, under the magnifying glass of nocturnal sensitivity. Worlds arise in which one no longer knows what is true and what is not. And that is what is special about our Insomnia: everything is possible, and everything is to be found in the ears and the eyes of the listener.

At the heart of this album from the Gould Piano Trio is Schubert's Piano Trio in E-flat major, D. 929, a late masterpiece of emotional depth and formal ingenuity. Heard here in it's complete version, the finale restores the haunting B minor passage, it's circling piano figures echoing Der Leiermann, while the Andante's cello theme weaves through the work like a recurring memory. Alongside it is the youthful Piano Trio in B-flat major, D. 28 - fresh, lyrical, and full of promise, whilst Schubert Dances - a charming new suite of waltzes, Landler and Deutscher arranged for piano trio by Brian Newbould, completes the programme and showcases Schubert's lighter side. Together, these works chart a compelling path from teenage inspiration to late-style mastery.

Beginning in 1838, Franz Liszt began to produce transcriptions of Schubert's Lieder almost as rapidly as they had been written in the first place. Within eight years, Liszt had produced 56 such transcriptions, which are models of their kind: faithful, ingenious and gratifying to play.

As the great pianist of his own age, Liszt rewrote the Wanderer Fantasy in an act of homage, firstly as a concerto, then a solo piece, and this lesser-known version is recorded here by Giovanni Doria Miglietta.

Finally, Doria-Miglietta includes Liszt’s more complex rewritings of two Impromptus. In D899 No.2 he does indeed make the harmony more complex and the effect more brilliant, whereas he leaves the divine simplicity of No.3 almost untouched except for changing the key from G flat to G major, perhaps to make it easier to play for the amateur pianist.

Schubert's three Sonatas for Violin and Fortepiano, Op. 137, may nod to Mozart in their delicacy, but their spirit is firmly rooted in the early Romantic imagination. Written in 1816, they seem to inhabit the intimate world of Lieder, where song-like melodies and expressive dialogues between violin and piano take centre stage. Violinist Peter Hanson and fortepianist Andrew Arthur bring these works to life on period instruments, revealing the subtle textures and nuanced interplay that modern pianos often obscure. Hanson's phrasing echoes the expressive lyricism of Schubert's vocal writing, while Arthur's fortepiano-modelled on an early 19th-century Walther & Sohn-illuminates the sonatas' delicate, shifting colours. This recording invites us to experience Schubert's Sonatas as a cycle, as they may have been heard in a Viennese salon: a journey from charm to melancholy, from innocence to reflection, all shaped by the ephemeral beauty of song.

Less than a year after the release of his recording of Schubert's Impromptus (BIS-2614), Ronald Brautigam now presents two of Franz Schubert's late masterpieces, the Sonatas D 959 and D 960. They are played here on a fortepiano built by Paul McNulty after an instrument from around 1819 by the Viennese instrument maker Conrad Graf, and presumably similar to the instrument on which Schubert composed.

Although it is tempting to see Schubert's final works as the testament of a doomed artist who feels his end is nearing, the reality is quite different: the composer displayed vitality, optimism, and a prodigious capacity for work. His last two sonatas also show that he had reached a new level, having successfully emancipated himself from the Beethovenian model. These sonatas took a long time to establish themselves, not least because of their length, which was at first disconcerting for music-lovers and pianists alike. They are now considered to be among Schubert's finest works, alongside others dating from the last years of his life, such as the String Quintet in C major and the song cycle Winterreise. All these works seemed to herald considerable promise for future works; Schubert's untimely death buried a rich heritage, but even more beautiful hopes.

REVIEW:

Paul McNulty ‘s 2007 fortepiano based on a Conrad Graf model circa 1819 served Ronald Brautigam’s Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven solo recordings wonderfully well, and does so again in the fortepianist’s powerful, passionate and musically intelligent accounts of Schubert’s last two sonatas. Indeed, these are far and away the best Schubert period instrument piano recordings since those of Andreas Staier and Peter Serkin. Brautigam dives into the A Major Sonata’s opening Allegro with both assertion and flexibility, underlining Schubert’s astonishing harmonic tangents with stinging accents, subtle accelerations and full-bodied fortes that almostd detonate. To compensate for his instrument’s limited sustaining capabilities, Brautigam builds the momentum within the slow movement’s wild central climax by occasionally scaling back the long chromatic phrases so that their loudest peaks convey maximum impact. Having recently played on a similar McNulty Graf model, I can attest that the instrument’s light action makes it easier than usual to negotiate the Scherzo at a true Allegro vivace. However, Brautigam holds the tempo back and conveys more lilt and swing in the process. He also brings a patient, songful and lovingly nuanced spaciousness to the Finale that parallels Maurizio Pollini’s sublime modern instrument recording.

The instrument’s striking timbral distinctions between registers hit home in the B-flat Sonata’s Molto Moderato, especially when the low lying trills appear to emanate from an entirely different keyboard. Likewise, the frequent repeated notes in melodic phrases and ostinato-like accompaniments gain tension. One also should note Brautigam’s shifts of emphasis and timing as he observes the long first movement repeat. He imparts more urgency than what one often hears in the Andante sostenuto, mustering up genuine orchestral impact in the central climax. The Scherzo stands out for Brautigam’s mercurial pedal shifts and curvaceously inflected Trio section. I would have imagined a more headlong Finale in Brautigam’s hands, yet he takes Schubert’s “ma non troppo” caveat to heart by easing his way into the main theme, and allowing the dotted rhythms a welcome degree of grandeur and breathing room. The interpretation suggests an opera without words more than a piano showpiece, and that’s a compliment. Superb sonics, superb annotations, superb musicianship and superb pianism: what more could you want from this most recommendable Schubert release? Don’t miss it.

— ClassicsToday.com (10/10; Jed Distler)

I am the instrument of a higher power. With God's help and grace, I shall one day be a Liszt in technique and a Mozart as a composer. The ambitious plan in the 18-year-old composer's diary was eventually fulfilled. He was a very sought-after pianist. As a composer, he left his mark most clearly in the cycle of symphonic poems titled Ma vlast (My Country) and through chamber music in his Piano Trio and the String Quartet "From My Life"; those three works reflect tragic episodes in Smetana's life. The Trio in G minor, one of the gems of 19th-century chamber music, was written in under three months of 1855 as an outgrowth of the composer's immense sorrow over the death of his daughter. Smetana's emotionally gripping trio is heard on the album together with one of the most important chamber works of the romantic era, Schubert's monumental Piano Trio in E flat major (1827). This masterpiece was likewise written by a 30-year-old composer, but it is also one of Schubert's last completed works; at the time, Schubert had only a year of life remaining. The ensemble reaching the depths of the two composers' music on their debut album is the youthful Trio Bohemo, who have been appearing for several years with great success at prestigious competitions and on concert stages around the world (London's Wigmore Hall, Vienna's Musikverein), usually with programmes combining Czech and foreign repertoire. There is yet another important name behind the recording: the late Hatto Beyerle, a founding member of the Alban Berg Quartet, who coached the young ensemble in both works and set them on the path towards their own individual interpretation, seeking the meaning hidden behind the musical notation. Trio Bohemo, Smetana, Schubert. A debut with a capital "D".

Third volume of Franz Schubert's complete piano sonatas, performed by Japanese fortepianist Yasuyo Yano, professor at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences. Recorder in Swizerland with a Christopher Clarke fortepiano. Yasuyo Yano, was born in Tokyo. Her teachers were Midori Matsubara, then Sergio Perticaroli and Carla Giudici at the Academia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome. Yasuyo Yano has also received precious advice from other famous pianists, such as Jacques Rouvier, Dang Thai Son and Paul Badura-Skoda. Yasuyo Yano now lives in Switzerland where she teaches the piano, Fortepiano and chamber music at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. She gives solo recitals and is also a chamber music performer, both on the Fortepiano and the modern piano. Yasuyo Yano tells of her encounter with the Fortepiano: "In Venice, in 2001, I played the complete Mozart sonatas for violin and piano together with the violinist Giuliano Carmignola. Andrea Marcon, another eminent Italian musician, told me after one of these concerts that I should consider playing Fortepiano. I took his advice and I am today still thankful for it, because working with the Fortepiano has opened up entirely new dimensions for me. On the one hand, the Fortepiano enables me to imagine and hear how the music must have sounded back in those days, and on the other hand, the Fortepiano is quite different to modern pianos, offering a large spectrum for creative leeway with a rich palette of sound colors, a wide range of dynamics and the delicate response of the keyboard to touch. I had not expected all of this! But it was quite a long journey to master the instrument so that I was able to reveal these characteristics - a journey with a wonderful reward as it has lead me to Schubert."

Playing Franz Schubert's music on the unusual instrument known as the "arpeggione" in an ensemble with the combination of Schrammel harmonica and contraguitar known as the "Wiener Packl" (Viennese posse) in traditional Viennese music - as far-fetched as this combination may seem at first glance, on closer inspection it is not so outlandish, given that the inventor of the arpeggione, Johann Georg Stauffer, also made the first attempts to develop the contraguitar. And the Schrammel harmonica was also invented around the same time, also in Vienna! On this album by the title "Arpeggione.200," Peter Hudler, Andreas Teufel and Daniel Fuchsberger perform Schubert's popular Sonata for Arpeggione and Piano in addition to different L�ndler and their own arrangements of songs like "Trockne Blumen," "Du bist die Ruh" or "Sei mir gegr��t," opening a gateway to a very special, distinctly poetic, lyrical sound world which also highlights the close relation of Schubert's works to traditional Alpine folk music.

Ronald Brautigam performs some of Franz Schubert’s most profound and beloved works: the eight Impromptus. Schubert’s name has become closely associated with this genre, often characterized by a lyrical melody and a free-flowing structure, with a sense of spontaneity. With it, Schubert seems to have found an ideal setting for the expression of his genius. The Impromptus, D 899, are reminiscent of a four-movement sonata. The first begins theatrically, before giving way to a funeral march of sorts, in which the melody is harmonised, amplified and constantly renewed. In the second, everything appears light and fluid. In the third, Schubert offers us one of his most inspired songs with one of his most beautiful melodies. The fourth takes us back to the waterworks of a fairy-tale park. The Impromptus, D 935, were published after Schubert’s death. The first is a great rhapsodic poem in which expression reaches into the deepest recesses of the Schubertian soul. The second demonstrates how Schubert manages to rise high with simple material. The third impromptu is a series of variations on ‘Rosamunde’, one of the composer’s most famous themes. The fourth is a lightning-fast scherzando – a free and whimsical piece that ideally concludes this disc.

Whether you know these sonatas well or are totally unfamiliar with them, you owe it to yourself to hear this set. Schubert playing like this is rare. In July/August I reviewed two recent Schubert discs by Stephen Hough and Malcolm Bilson. Both were well played and well recorded. But I now feel constrained to add that in spite of their many individual virtues as Schubert interpreters, they are light years removed from Damgaard. This set (with it's magisterial playing and even better sound) will surely be my Record of the Year". I am grateful to the editor for bringing it to my attention. If I can bring it to the attention of others, I will have done some good in the world." American Record Guide November/December 1999

On his new album “31” pianist Fabian Muller plays the late work of Franz Schubert- the piano sonatas no. 19-21 as well as Drei Klavierstucke D946. The idea behind this recording is to play the late works as a young person- in view of the fact that Schubert himself was a young man when he composed them. Muller plays the pieces lovingly, peaceful. Sad, but at the same time incredibly happy- and in his interpretations he likes to take liberties with the tempo and sometimes leaves out repetitions. “It’s important to take the composer seriously, but it’s also important not to overdo it. In the end, it often remains a mystery what the composer really wanted anyway. That’s why I have great confidence in making my own decisions,” Muller says.

The debut of the Vienna Piano Trio on the MDG label set a new standard. Their brilliant recording of all of Franz Schubert's piano trios was praised by the BBC as the benchmark: best available version. It is now available for the first time as a double album. In addition to the two great trios in E-flat and B-flat, this carefully prepared edition also includes the enchanting Notturno and the original version of the E-flat major finale. As a special treasure, an early sonata movement is heard which the young Franzl may have originally prepared for lessons with Salieri. Apart from this early work, Schubert only began to work on the piano trio towards the end of his life. The large-scale works, which today undoubtedly rank among the top of the chamber music literature, are correspondingly mature and complex. The pieces of their compatriot fit the Viennese piano trio like a tailor-made suit: the Austrians make music so glowing and stirring that you wouldn't want to hear it any other way. The meticulousness with which the musicians approach Schubert's cosmos certainly contributes to this. Extensive study of the sources, including insight into the precious autographs of the Austrian National Library, brings many a frequently overlooked detail to light and reveals something astonishing: the sheer number of corrections and improvements that the 14-year-old Schubert made to his op. 28 is overwhelming... Only the best is good enough for Schubert's piano trio: what applies to the interpretations of the Viennese piano trio also applies to the sound of the carefully balanced recordings made in the historic Fürstliche Reitbahn Bad Arolsen - top-quality classical music for very unique listening moments!

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