At ninety-five years old, Herbert Blomstedt still seems to be in his prime. Just last year, in November 2021, he recorded Schubert’s last two symphonies at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig. For his “debut” under the Deutsche Grammophon label, the Swedish conductor had originally chosen to rehearse and record both works in public, but the coronavirus epidemic had other ideas. The rehearsals and subsequent recording eventually took place behind closed doors.Blomstedt knows this prestigious German orchestra well, having conducted it from 1998 to 2005. In fact, he remains its conductor emeritus. This new recording serves as a life lesson as well as a music lesson, putting a whole new spin on Schubert’s melancholy. A luminous message of hope takes hold from the very first measures of “Unfinished” Symphony, which features a supple and lively tempo and is completely free of the morosity that most composers tend to imbue into this work.A sense of eternal youth dominates the entire performance of the great Symphony in C major, whose repetitions and lengthy developments are overlooked thanks to the weightless, lively tempos. Every section of the ensemble brings incredible life to the piece, especially the solo oboe in the wonderful Andante con Moto (which seems to take the form of a simple ländler under the artistic eye of this talented conductor). A bouncy Scherzo leads into an explosive Allegro vivace that oozes pure joy. The Leipzig Gewandhaus orchestra are truly at their best here, capturing every nuance and reaching every sudden crescendo Schubert intended. The harmonies are dazzling, the brass section is nothing if not divine and the string section possesses the uncanny ability to alternate between soft, silky sounds and unbridled power. Schubert would be proud of this work. © François Hudry/Qobuz

There is an abundance of recordings of Schubert's two piano trios and of most of the other chamber pieces on this double album; one of them is even by the trio of players heard here, violinist Christian Tetzlaff, cellist Tanja Tetzlaff, and pianist Lars Vogt, but this one was made in the last year and a half of Vogt's life. He had not yet been diagnosed with the cancer that killed him in 2022, but he spoke of this as potentially one of his last recordings. Vogt seemed to be rushing to record as much as he could before his death, sometimes disregarding the advice of his doctors, and several of his last releases were very strong. This one is extraordinary. The brother-sister team of Christian and Tanja Tetzlaff are formidable chamber players, but here, they apply their skills to staying out of Vogt's way; he seems to direct the performances. They land somewhere between ecstatic and tragic. Sample the slow movement of the Piano Trio in E flat major, D. 929, which is something of a funeral march to begin with. Vogt's melody shines with transcendence. His lines in the Piano Trio in B flat major, D. 898, are soaring, shaped into a kind of momentum perhaps never before heard in this well-worn piece. There are several shorter pieces that are beautifully done, including a take on the comparatively rarer Arpeggione Sonata in A minor, D. 821, from Tanja Tetzlaff and Vogt. The main attraction is the pair of piano trios, and it is a bit sobering to ponder whether one must be staring death in the face to play like this.© James Manheim /TiVo

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All Baroque roads lead to Romanticism, and Jordi Savall knows this all too well. His rendition of the Beethoven Symphonies revisits the original manuscripts, dynamics, tempos and instruments, and Savall enacts this same approach with Franz Schubert, who died a few months after the great German composer. With this recording, made in September 2021 in the collegiate church of Cardona in Catalonia, the valiant octogenarian brings his own spiritual vision to Schubert. This is further affirmed by the album’s title: Transfiguration.The Catalan violinist is, above all, a humanist and a lyricist, two qualities that resonate particularly well with the music and spirit of Franz. Savall graces us with a vision of the Unfinished Symphony that contemplates the infinite without ever feeling heavy, instead turning towards the inner light.Music served as a vessel for Schubert, an outlet for his existential pain. Throughout his work, which culminates in the Ninth Symphony in C major, the Viennese composer expresses his aspiration for a youth freed from the inexorable presence of illness. This zest for life finds a particular resonance here in Jordi Savall’s poignant vision of the last two symphonies. Savall provides much more than just another version, creating an interpretation that penetrates deep into the depths of Schubert's distress, whilst still maintaining the lively desire for brotherhood that also fills the composer's great creations. © François Hudry/Qobuz

With his 60th birthday approaching, the Polish pianist Krystian Zimerman thought it was time “to find the courage for works such as these and the last Beethoven sonatas. I’ve played these pieces for 30 years, but always feared them tremendously because of my unbelievable respect for the composers. Perhaps I worried that if I left them any longer, it would be too late.” Zimerman has used a normal piano, but fitted with a keyboard made by himself, designed to create qualities Schubert would have known in his instruments. Compared to a modern grand piano, the hammer strikes a different point of the string, enhancing its ability to sustain a singing sound – though it does also set up different overtones and the piano might sound strangely tuned. Also, the action is lighter. On a modern grand piano the many repeated notes in Schubert could turn into Prokofiev. According to Zimmerman, these two last Sonatas contribute significantly to our view of Schubert’s greatness, as “he switches into a different gear, daring radically to use new ideas in harmony and polyphony. Compared to his earlier sonatas, they could almost be by another composer.” The album was recorded in January 2016.

Adam Laloum has offered low-key Schubert in the past, and it has gone against the current grain of finding big Beethovenian drama in Schubert. Here, in the Piano Sonata in A major, D. 959, he shifts gears a bit. His first movement involves flexible tempos and a good deal of general instability. Then he settles down, resulting in a first-movement-heavy treatment of the sonata. It is unusual and probably fulfills the goal of standing out from the large crowd of recordings of this late Schubert work. Perhaps stronger are the six Moments Musicaux, where Laloum's perfect control results in crystalline miniatures that truly entrance the listener if external thoughts are set aside. Sample the Allegro, D. 780, No. 3, a perfect miniature. Harmonia Mundi finds idiomatic sound at the Théâtre Auditorium de Poitiers but mikes Laloum too closely, picking up a good deal of non-musical noise. Laloum is perhaps a pianist who excels in music of small dimensions, a valuable thing in a field where heroics are usually what is valued, and he produces an excellent example here.© James Manheim /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

Quatuor Modigliani offers a complete survey of the string quartets of Franz Schubert. Though all of these works have been recorded and performed with varying degrees of regularity, the composer's late, mature quartets are much more popular in recordings and on the concert stage. Written when he was a teenager, Schubert's early quartets are influenced understandably by the music of the Classical period, especially Mozart and Haydn, to be performed by family members and schoolmates. The development of Schubert as a composer is heard throughout his quartets, even between the relatively short period from his first (1810) to tenth (1813), but especially apparent is the composer's growth during his hiatus from writing for string quartet. He set aside the form after completing his eleventh quartet in 1816 until another attempt was made in 1820. The resulting Quartettsatz was left unfinished, and even though it is only a single movement work, it was published as his twelfth quartet; the Quartettsatz arguably coincides with the beginning of his mature period. Following a period of severe illness, Schubert returned to the string quartet medium again in 1824 with the Rosamunde Quartet, named thus because it recalls a theme from the composer's incidental music for the play Rosamunde, Fürstin von Zypern. The Quatuor Modigliani delivers precise readings throughout and have developed a wonderful ensemble sound. With powerful dynamic contrast, the group navigates the stylistic changes that occurred during the prolific, tragically short life of this remarkable composer. Instead of presenting these works in chronological order, Quatuor Modigliani divides them into five different themed groups, one for each disc, such as "Harmony" and "The Art of Song." The reasoning behind these groupings is detailed in the booklet for physical buyers, and listeners can decide how well the case is made. © TiVo

Always keen to spice things up, Thylacine has spent the last two years going on musical journeys. He boarded a train on Transsiberian in 2015 and jumped into a caravan in South America for the double volume Roads. In Spring when the world was frozen in lockdown, the French electronic producer spent his days shut up in a chalet in the Swiss alps. He’s decided to journey into the past with this album, revisiting works by classical composers – the likes of Satie, Debussy, Verdi, Mozart, Beethoven, Fauré and Schubert. While most recent projects have tried to link the two styles by going for a more conceptual approach, William Rezé takes a more direct route and offers up a series of remixed classical music “hits”. He samples the first few notes of Satie’s Gymnopédie n.1 and sets them to an airy house beat. He covers Gnossienne 1 on an acoustic guitar. He supports Verdi’s Dies Irae with a heavy techno beat, while still preserving the original’s raw drama, and manages to build a bridge between the Italian composer and American EDM. A great record. © Smaël Bouaici/Qobuz

For a truly great interpretation it’s not enough just to play a historical instrument, the playing also has to be up to scratch. This recording released by the world-renowned label ECM showcases a pianist of the highest calibre playing the wonderful Viennese Brodmann piano. András Schiff captures the convergence of thought and sound remarkably well and seldom before have we been given so much insight into Schubert’s innermost thoughts. The softness and the unmistakable legato that the pianist produces on this Viennese instrument give the Sonatas D. 958 and D. 959 an indescribable feeling of nostalgia. But Schubert’s inward revolt was growing and András Schiff leads us steadily to the edge of the abyss. The crystalline sounds of the Scherzo in the Sonata D. 959 are as enchanting as the sound of ancient harpists who were so often depicted by German Romantics. This exploration into sound is also marvellous in the Impromptus D. 899 and the 3 Klavierstücke D. 946 or “Three Piano Pieces”, which have a very expressive counterpoint that differ from the unfathomable depth of the sonatas. This album is a revelation into a whole new world of sound that is unveiled as András Schiff’s fingers touch the keys. Inspiring. © François Hudry/Qobuz

Conductor Pablo Heras-Casado and the Freiburger Barockorchester have established a mutually beneficial relationship, mounting a number of successful tours and a growing catalog of quality recordings. Here, Heras-Casado and the Freiburger group offer readings of two Schubert symphonies seeking to accentuate the stylistic difference between the Haydnesque Symphony No. 5 in B flat major, D. 485, and the forward-looking Symphony No. 7, D. 759 ("Unfinished"). There is no shortage of recordings of these symphonies, but there are good reasons to give this one a listen. The Freiburger Barockorchester excels with the Symphony No. 5, and this reading of the "Unfinished" will find many welcoming ears. Listener mileage will vary, naturally, depending on individual attitudes regarding the interpretation of these symphonies, but they are both played well and worth hearing. The Freiburger group has a considerable audience already, and these familiar works may be a good entry point to those less familiar with the group or who have any level of interest in the sound of a period-instrument ensemble performing this music. Heras-Casado keeps a brisk pace throughout, and the orchestra deftly follows. Another attraction here is the sound from the Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden, which is ideally captured by Harmonia Mundi's engineers, especially for those who have an affinity for a strong cello-and-double-bass-ensemble sound. © Keith Finke /TiVo

This 2023 release inaugurates an ongoing series from baritone Samuel Hasselhorn and pianist Ammiel Bushakevitz, performing Schubert works two centuries on from their date of composition, and slated to culminate in 2028, the bicentennial of the composer's death. The project begins with one of the most famous Schubert song cycles of all, Die schöne Müllerin, D. 795, depicting the crackup and despair of a young wanderer who falls in love with a beautiful miller's daughter. Hasselhorn has plenty of recent competition in this cycle; listeners can sample the 2017 recording by Christian Gerhaher and Gerold Huber for another approach, but this one promises well for the ongoing project. Die schöne Müllerin is a work in which Schubert took vast strides toward the emancipation of the piano in the lied, and Bushakevitz leans into this aspect, with details that illuminate and often foreshadow themes developing in the text. Hasselhorn has a warm baritone with an appealing conversational tone that turns chilly and quiet toward the cycle's downer conclusion. Another draw is Harmonia Mundi's sound from the b-sharp studio in Berlin; the engineers put Bushakevitz just a bit forward in the mix, not so much as to sap energy from Hasselhorn's singing, but enough to highlight his perceptive performance. This release bodes well indeed for the duo's future work.© James Manheim /TiVo

Hats off to Marek Janowski, who was in his early eighties when this album was recorded with the Dresden Philharmonic in late 2020. He shows no signs of slowing down, and in fact, these are completely fresh versions of Schubert's much-recorded last two symphonies (intelligently listed here simply by their nicknames, sidestepping the vexing numbering question). Recordings of the big Schubert symphonies often fall into classifications of Classical-period-oriented, exemplified most famously by those of George Szell and Romantic. Janowski's is part of the latter group, but they are Romantic readings of a specific kind. Janowski's work with the Dresden group has been involved mostly with opera, and these are quite operatic symphony readings, filled with small, dialogue-like gestures that propel the narrative along and cohere into strong examples of what younger television viewers would call a story arc. Consider the first movement of the Symphony No. 9 in C major, D. 944 ("Great"), where Janowski shapes the strings' initial response to the horn call in such a way that it has the flavor of a vocal entrance. This has substantial implications for the future occurrences of this figure, which really holds the entire movement together. The horns at the beginning of the finale are Wagnerian, heraldic. Except for the fairly slow tempo in the first movement of the Symphony No. 8 in B minor ("Unfinished"), Janowski's tempos are pretty much in the middle, but they often seem slow because there is so much episodic detail revealed. A Schubert release that will interest even those who have heard these works many times.© James Manheim /TiVo

With the emergence of the new wave, all kinds of synths and keyboards were being integrated more and more into rock instrumentals. In Düsseldorf, Germany, Kraftwerk were capturing the spirit of the age and the industrial civilisation in their completely synthetic and electronic melodies. With their sixth album which was released in 1977, entitled Trans Europe Express, these avant-gardists who were driven by contemporary music reached sublime perfection. Coldness turned into art, minimalist aestheticism and atmospheric harmonies, Kraftwerk’s music would fascinate David Bowie (cited with Iggy Pop in the song Trans Europe Express) and Brian Eno just as much as the first rappers (Afrika Bambaataa) and the future popes of electro. For when this forerunning universe of Kraftwerk collided with the stakhavonist groove of disco, techno would be born… © MZ/Qobuz

Schubert’s last two quartets, composed during the final years of his life, reveal the impressive mastery he achieved, despite the knowledge that he was dying. The four movements of the "Death and the Maiden” Quartet, all in minor keys, and the tumultuous, quasi-orchestral fifteenth Quartet, an important stage on “the way to the grand symphony”, bear witness to the composer’s struggle against illness and death. The Quatuor Aviv brilliantly illuminates the elegiac and tragic melodies in which Schubert wrapped his torments. © Aparté

Pianist Alexander Schmalcz has performed alongside many famous singers during his career and is also a talented arranger. At the request of Matthias Goerne, he orchestrated Schubert’s lieder in the spirit of similar works by Berlioz, Reger, Liszt and Webern. Matthias Goerne has performed these orchestrations in numerous concerts, both in Europe and in New York, as part of the Mostly Mozart Festival.Schmalcz’s arrangements are both rigorous and conscientious. They’re perfect for Matthias Goerne’s dark tone, which is particularly graceful on this recording made in October 2019 with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. Over the years, the German baritone’s voice has become even more well-rounded, finding deep golden bass tones.The orchestration gives these 20 lieder exceptional weight, further emphasised by the mellowness of the strings, the darkness of the trombones and the sometimes ominous use of the timpani. This orchestration plunges Schubert’s music into a romantic universe similar to lieder by Brahms and even Wolf, especially in Songs of the harpist (Gesänge des Harfners), The Erl-King (Erlkönig) and the famous lieder Death and the maiden (Der Tod und das Mädchen). The anachronism of these arrangements is magnified by the silky accompaniment of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and Matthias Goerne’s stunning vocals. © François Hudry/Qobuz