This collection of all of Schubert's songs for low voice is one of the landmark recordings of the 20th century because it features two of the greatest Schubertians of their era, baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and pianist Gerald Moore. The recordings, made by Deutsche Grammophon between 1966 and 1972, come from Fischer-Dieskau's prime, when he was in his early to mid-thirties, his voice fully mature and its youthful bloom gloriously resplendent. He brought an acute, probing intelligence to everything he performed, as well as a penetrating, unmannered musicality, and those qualities are everywhere apparent in his Schubert lieder. Moore was primarily known as an accompanist, and in that role he was perhaps unsurpassed, but his contribution to the music is no way secondary. His playing has interpretive distinctiveness as well as the instinctive musicality of a performer deeply immersed in Schubert's sound world. The singer and pianist made multiple recordings of many of these songs and while aficionados may prefer a version of a song or cycle other than the one offered here, the version here is never less than superb.The set, which includes 463 songs on 21 discs, should be of utmost interest to any fans of the singer and pianist, and to anyone who loves Schubert, and to anyone who loves collaborative music-making of the highest order. The value of the limited edition set released in celebration of the singer's 85th birthday makes it a terrific bargain. The remastering is mostly exemplary and the sound is immaculate, warm, and present. There are a few technical glitches, like a slight click and skip in the introduction to "Wasserflut," but overall the sound is first-class. The balance is just about ideal; it's easy to shut one's eyes and imagine the performers there in the same room. Very highly recommended.© TiVo

Nightfall is undoubtedly one of the most personal and intimate moments of our daily lives. We return home to our loved ones, slowly transitioning from the hubbub of the outside world to the silence of the evening. It’s to this unique time of day that Elīna Garanča wanted to dedicate her album When Night Falls…she invites us on a musical journey to the planet’s different countries and time zones.The mezzo-soprano of Latvian origin isn’t known solely for her unique timbre; her voice, warm and brimming with infinite strength, has proven itself for over 30 years in all of the greatest opera houses across the world . Elīna Garanča also speaks six languages fluently: along with Latvian, she speaks German, English, Spanish, Italian, and Russian, almost all of which are used on When Night Falls…for the first time, this album carves out a special place for her mother tongue, which Elīna Garanča justifies outright in an interview with Qobuz: “It’s been a long time coming for Latvian music to be heard, don’t you think?” Alongside lieder by composer Raimonds Pauls, living legend in Latvia and friend of the singer, we also find writings by Aspazija, “our national female poet,” set to music. Latvian repertoire is all the more present on this album for the vivid childhood memories the singer has kept of the familiar sounds that she heard in the evenings, and the songs that were sung to her to lull her to sleep. Yet given the subject at hand, how could we forget the great romantics? The album opens with Strauss’s “Wiegenlied (Lullaby),” followed by lieder by Brahms, Schubert, and Humperdinck. Elīna Garanča also dedicates a significant part of the album to Spanish and Italian repertoire, most notably by contemporary composers such as Manuel de Falla, Xavier Montsalvatge, and Luciano Berio. With virtuosity and a lovely diversity in timbre, with each shift in style, the singer achieves a true musical metamorphosis, backed by the formidable Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria, conducted by Karel Mark Chichon – her real-life spouse. “Each of my albums is a reflection of my internal state,” explains the soprano. Here, the withdrawal into a more intimate sphere – particularly in the uncertain times in which we live today – is incarnated by music that holds us tight, offering us a glimmer of hope within the darkness. © Lena Germann/Qobuz

It is not just a matter of showbiz that sees the names of Anne-Sophie Mutter and Daniil Trifonov written in big letters on the cover of this CD (well... even bigger than Schubert's name, but let's let that lie): in fact, they play on all the pieces in the album, and in particular the famous Trout Quintet (wiith Hwayoon Lee on the viola, Roman Patkoló on the double bass and Maximilian Hornung on the cello), but also the movement of trio D 897, "Notturno" - whose name was added by an editor, whereas it appears that this was a movement originally written for the trio in B flat then set aside - and the two Lieder adapted for violin and piano respectively, by Jascha Heifetz and Mischa Elman. First among equals, Mutter leads proceedings with both energy and a delicate touch, and it's a safe bet that although this is only the latest in a long line of recordings of this quicksilver masterpiece by Schubert, it will soon find a prominent place in the discographic hall of fame. © SM/Qobuz

It has been frequently observed that 19th century audiences liked to hear opera in their own languages. How true this was for art song is less clear, but poet Jeremy Sams is making a strong case for the procedure. This is the fourth in a series of releases by the present performers, and others have recorded his translations as well. He has a fine feeling for the way Schubert was drawn to simplicity; he has sometimes been charged with setting inferior verse, but what he needed as poetry that stated its basic idea and then, so to speak, got out of his way. Sams gives the texts a natural feeling that is hard to replicate for listeners who are not German, even if they speak the language well. Consider Wild Rose, D. 257, which is the famed Heidenröslein; this title scans easily, and the listener is drawn into the immediacy of the text. There are a couple of Goethe texts, but they are songlike excerpts; Sams and the performers probably do well to stay away from his more philosophical poetry. The singers -- baritone Roderick Williams and soprano Rowan Pierce -- emphasize directness and text intelligibility, and accompanist Christopher Glynn properly keeps close to the meter. Pierce hangs out on the bottom side of the pitch sometimes, and listeners can decide for themselves whether this is troublesome. However, it is hard to escape the idea that, at some level, this recording presents Schubert as non-German audiences of the composer's day might ideally have heard his songs. This album made classical best-seller charts in the autumn of 2023.© James Manheim /TiVo

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Some of Jean-Nicolas Diatkine's singer friends have ended their careers, but their magic is irreplaceable in his eyes, or rather in his ears. He misses them, just as he misses the Schubert, Schumann and Brahms songs they sang. Well, there is only one person who can compensate for this loss, and his name is Franz Liszt. The main aim of transcriptions was to make orchestral works known to a wider audience, at a time when there were far fewer orchestras, and public access to symphony concerts was very limited. But Liszt gives transcriptions a new meaning: he puts the orchestra into the piano, since his style is particularly suited to outsized extravagance. Thus he opens up unprecedented pianistic possibilities, where virtuosity is no longer mere exhibitionism but rather transformed into the art of illusion. His arrangements of Wagner are so convincing that they become his own personal creations. Laurent Bessières, piano tuner at the Paris Philharmonic, suggested for this recording a Schiedmayer piano of 1916 made in Stuttgart, which he had completely rebuilt in collaboration with Antoine Letessier-Salmon, director of the French National Centre for Scientific Research, and Stephen Paulello, piano maker and inventor of the strings that bear his name. This instrument has almost never been used in concert, however excellent work by Laurent Bessières convinced us to try it out in this very special repertoire. © solo musica

This recording of Schubert's beloved "Trout" Quintet may not be not the greatest recording of the work ever made. How could it be? Chamber ensembles have been recording the "Trout" since the invention of recording and there are perhaps more great recordings of the piece in the catalogue than of any other chamber work. But the qualities that make for a great recording of the "Trout" are abundantly present in this recording, too, and anyone who loves the work will have to hear it. Why? Because the Leopold String Trio -- violinist Marianne Thorsen, violist Lawrence Power and cellist Kate Gould -- plus pianist Paul Lewis and bassist Graham Mitchell -- tap into the heart's blood of the work. In their performance, one can hear the ineffable charm, the indescribable beauty and the quintessentially Viennese loveliness of the work. Beyond the ease of their ensemble, the clarity of the textures and the warmth of their tone, their melodies always sing, their harmonies always ring, their rhythms always sway and their tempos always lilt. The couplings of Schubert's single movement B-flat String Trio and his four-movement String Trio also in B-flat performed by the Leopold String Trio alone are equally well played and equally effective. Whether you have one "Trout" on your shelf or a dozen, this one will still deserves a hearing, especially in Hyperion's cool, clear and deep sound.© TiVo

This 2004 Virgin CD of Schubert's Piano Quintet in A major, "Trout," appears merely to be a vehicle to promote the label's roster of rising talents, and questions about this apparently ad hoc ensemble's cohesiveness and cooperation may well be raised. It is clear that pianist Frank Braley dominates the proceedings as the leader and that the strings are unfocused, poorly balanced, and ill-equipped to stand up to his big sound. When Braley periodically pulls back, the Capuçon brothers -- violinist Renaud and cellist Gautier -- are the most prominent players; but violist Gérard Caussé is much less audible and double-bassist Alois Posch is sometimes only heard as an indistinct rumble. Yet as out of balance and spotty as this "Trout" is, the strings at least err on the side of restraint, and the results are not as egregious as they might have been had they tried to outshine each other. Even so, this performance is still unsatisfactory for Braley's prominence and the group's irregularities and occasional looseness, and this recording compares unfavorably with the splendidly polished rendition by the Schubert Ensemble of London on ASV, also released in 2004. Virgin's sound quality is fine, if just a little too resonant.© TiVo