The arrangement of Schubert's songs on this album does not correspond to the order we know from conventional editions or from most recordings. Although often referred to as such, Schubert's Schwanengesang is not his third song cycle. It is, in fact, a collection of 14 of his late songs. What particularly motivated us as performers was finding a new, individual approach that is expressed not only in the order of the songs as we chose them, but also in our personal emotional response to each of the songs. We wanted to convey this individuality to you, our listeners, as vividly as possible, so you could experience the emotion and atmosphere of each song as directly as Schubert and his singing colleagues did in the bourgeois salons of Vienna at the time." Kresimir Strazanac In addition to Schubert's Schwanengesang, the album includes three thematically related songs by the British composer Mary Frances Allitsen.