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Schubert: Lieder with Orchestra

Munich Radio Orchestra

Classical - Released October 6, 2023 | BR-Klassik

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One might react to this album with initial annoyance and ask whether it is really necessary to hear orchestrated versions of Schubert's supremely pianistic songs. It may come as a surprise, then, to find that most of these Lieder with Orchestra were arranged by great composers. They include Benjamin Britten, Jacques Offenbach, and Max Reger, who took on the job because, he said, he hated to hear a piano-accompanied song on an orchestral program. Perhaps the most surprising name to find is that of Anton Webern, but his arrangements are not the minimal, pointillistic things one might expect; he wrote these arrangements as a way of studying Schubert's music, and they are quite straightforward. Indeed, it is somewhat difficult to distinguish the arrangers simply by listening to the music; Schubert's melodic lines tend to suggest distinctive solutions. Perhaps Reger's are a bit more lush than the others, although his version of Erlkönig, D. 328, is one of the few numbers here that just doesn't work (there is no way to replicate the percussive quality of the accompaniment). As for the performances as such, Benjamin Appl is clearly an important rising baritone, and he has a wonderful natural quality in Schubert. An oddball release like this might seem an unusual choice for a singer in early career, but he contributes his own notes, and he seems to have undertaken the project out of genuine enthusiasm for the material. At the very least, he has brought some intriguing pieces out of the archives and given them highly listenable performances. The Munich Radio Orchestra, under the young Oscar Jockel, is suitably restrained and keeps out of Appl's way. This release made classical best-seller lists in the autumn of 2023.© James Manheim /TiVo
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Schubert: Song Recital

Elisabeth Schwarzkopf

Classical - Released January 1, 1953 | Warner Classics

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This compilation of 12 Lieder and Six Moments Musicaux performed by soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and pianist Edwin Fischer is old-fashioned in every sense of the word. Recorded in 1950 and 1952, the sound is old-fashioned: clear but distant, heard across all the intervening decades as if through a dark glass. But, more significantly, the performances are old-fashioned. The slight but sweet quiver in Schwarzkopf's voice was typical of its time but unlike anything any contemporary soprano would attempt. In the An die Musik, she flirts with preciousness. In Im Frühling, she comes close to coyness. In Ganymed, she touches on parody. In Gretchen am Spinnrade, she almost but not quite distorts the music with her breathless delivery. And in every performance, Schwarzkopf seems fond of Schubert but not unreservedly fond, as if Schubert's songs needed special pleading to make them succeed, a truly old-fashioned approach compared to the unreservedly affectionate performances of contemporary singers. Similarly, Edwin Fischer's playing is equally old-fashioned, albeit in an entirely different way. Fischer obviously loves Schubert's music and his playing is warm-hearted and true. Unfortunately, Fischer's playing is technically old-fashioned. He drops notes, slurs lines, fudges arpeggios, and smudges rhythms in a manner that no contemporary pianist would dare let stand in a recording. Whether this approach works depends on the listener. Older listeners full of nostalgia for a time long since past will no doubt love it. Younger listeners with no tolerance for sentimentality may have trouble accepting it.© TiVo
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Schubert Sessions: Lieder with Guitar

Franz Schubert

Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released October 14, 2016 | Groupe Analekta, Inc

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