Schubert: Schubertiade Nachtmusik

Orpheon Ensemble / Jan Vermeulen

Released on 3/3/11 by Etcetera
Main artists: Jan Vermeulen Orpheon Ensemble
Genre: Classical

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The Etcetera label is primarily known for historically oriented performances of Renaissance and Baroque music, and it does not abandon its historical ideals with this release of music by Franz Schubert. Indeed, the Orpheon Ensemble, conductor Daniel Reuss, and fortepianist Jan Vermeulen perhaps offer a comparatively greater service here; they provide a historical context for Schubert's music that is not often recognized, and along the way they find some terrific music that has rarely been recorded. During his lifetime, Schubert's works were rarely heard in large-scale concerts, and when he tried to organize such events he usually failed. Instead, his music was heard in intimate gatherings. Some were organized by his friends and admirers and were called Schubertiades. His short piano pieces found a ready market among the growing body of middle-class consumers of piano music in Vienna, and his songs for four-part male quartet, without a doubt the most neglected part of his repertoire, remained staples of home and community music-making for much of the 19th century. Most musicians in a medium-sized American city of the time would have known them, or at least known of them, but today they are largely forgotten. This album presents persuasive evidence that, although some of these quartets (like the Räuberlied, D. 435 [Robber Song]), are definitely humorous, Schubert in no way considered them less significant than his songs for solo voice. If the Orpheon Ensemble had only resurrected such male-quartet pieces as the chilling Grab und Mond, D. 893 (Grave and Moon, with the grave inviting the listener to "come and see"), the album would be worth the price of admission. Consider the exquisitely pictorial Nachthelle, D. 892 (Night Brightness), for another example. But you also get a great set of instrumental dances in four related but distinct genres: Waltz, Ländler, German Dance, and Minuet, along with several other short pieces and the slow movement of the Piano Sonata in A major, D. 664. Annoying as it may seem to the modern ear, this was likely how Schubert's friends would have heard the work. And the program is just as absorbing as it would have been in 1827, showing various facets of Schubert's genius, light and dark. An absolute delight.
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Schubert: Schubertiade Nachtmusik

Orpheon Ensemble

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