Goetz: Six songs

Day 358

Hermann Goetz: Six songs

Geheimnis 

Schließe mir die Augen beide

Wandervöglein

Ein Frühlingstraum

Der Früling commit

Wanders Nachtlied

Olaf Bär

Helmet Deutsch

I came across Goetz when we played his symphony on a student orchestra course. I have also heard his rather good opera on the Taming of the Shrew. Goetz is a rather forgotten figure these days but his memory is preserved in the music criticism of George Bernard Shaw who rated him very highly as a composer. Shaw’s music criticism is always a delight to read. 

These half a dozen songs were attractive - between them they had a good range of emotions from cheerful though to solemn. Goetz was a conservative figure. His dates are 1840 - 1876, but he inhabits the musical world of the 1820s and 1830s, with just a hint of awareness of later developments. Goetz was a fairly prolific song composer given that he died in his mid 30s and there is probably a great deal more to explore in his song repertoire. I’ve certainly enjoyed hearing these pieces; they help to show why Shaw had such a high opinion of the composer. 

Lalo: Two songs

Day 353

Lalo: Two songs

Tristesse 

Les Petis Coups

Tassis Christoyannis

Jeff Cohen

Today was a day of travel so had very little time to listen to anything. These two songs by Lalo were a delight. I have heard Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnol and I have the new recording of Le Roi D’Ys ready to listen to but otherwise he is not a composer I am familiar with. The first of these two songs is a highly emotional song in the best tradition of the French Mélodie with some luscious harmonies. The second by constraint is an irresistibly witty strophic song which has great verve and charm. So these two tiny examples of Lalo’s work have certainly whetted my appetite for further exploration of a composer who had previously hardly entered my musical world. That’s one of the great benefits of this project.

Warlock: Lillygay

Day 351

Warlock: Lillygay

Sarah Leonard

Malcolm Martineau 

The only Warlock I know is the Capriol Suite, which I must confess I find quite irritating with its ‘faux baroque’ false relations general sense of forced jollity.  So I wasn’t expecting much from this short cycle of 4 songs. They are not based on actual folk songs but use folk-song like melodies in the vocal line. I can’t say I enjoyed them much. I find parts of them rather twee but also the harmonic language very uncomfortable. That particular English style of shifting chromatic harmonies I find disconcerting and unsettling. It made me appreciate the very different approach that Britten took to his folk songs settings. Those are much more to my taste.

Korngold: Four songs

Day 346

Korngold: Four songs

Glückwunch 

Alt-Spanish

Sterhelied

Gefasster abschied

Sarah Connolly

Eugene Asti

My experience of performing Korngold is limited to the two notes in the contrabassoon part in his violin concerto!. Other than that I am no conscious of hearing any of his other music though I must have experienced some of his film scores.

These four songs are very much in the last 19th century/early 20th century lieder tradition. They occupy a place somewhere between Hugo Wolf and Richard Strauss with perhaps a hint of early Berg. The Straussian influence is particularly strong and Korngold uses some of those harmonic techniques , such as a sudden lurch up or down a semi-tone, which personally I find rather off putting. So although these songs clearly show the work of a skilful composer in command of his material they only had a limited attraction for me. I. I can’t imagine that I will want to explore much more of this repertory: there are plenty of other priorities.

Loewe: Goethe songs

Day 343

Loewe: Six Goethe Songs

Hochzietslied Op 20 no 1

Der Fischer Pp 43 no 1

Dir Zauberlehring Op 20 no 2

Der Totentanz Op 44 no 3

Wirkung in die Ferne Op 55 no 1

Erlkönig Op 1 no 13

Werner Hollweg

Roman Ortner

This was a very pleasant surprise.  I knew the name Loewe because he had written a setting of Erlkönig but I don’t think that I had heard any of his songs before. He was an almost exact contemporary of Schubert but lived on to 1869 - one wonders what Schubert would have been writing had he lived that long. Loewe was well connected musically - he conducted the first performance of Mendelssohn’s overture to A Midsummer Night’s dream.

These are really ballads rather than songs - narrations telling a story in continuous music rather than, for the most part, in strophic form. What surprised me is how witty and charming they were. There is a real sense of story telling here - in some places with real comic effect such as the ever faster declamation in the first ballad, where the singer (deliberately) almost stumbles over his words in an effort to get his speech over with. There is also a freshness in the lyricism and some touches of Schumannesque harmony,

Loewe’ Erlkönig is a fine song - dramatic and full of energy. Had Schubert not set it we Loewe’s version might well have entered the repertoire. There is still a place for it as an alternative but nothing really can compare with Schubert’s masterpiece. 

Finzi: Dies natalis

Day 320

Finzi: Dies Natalis op 8

Andrew Kennedy

BBC National Orchestra of Wales

James Judd

I am normally fairly immune to early 20th century English song. I find the harmonic style cloying and the whole effect often quite soggy - no doubt the problem is with me rather than the music.  So I didn’t anticipate much from this piece but I was very taken with it. It is a setting of words by the mystic/religious poet Thomas Traherne for solo tenor (though the first performance was by a soprano) and string orchestra. What stuck me most was the fluidity of the word setting. There is a freedom here which is unusual for the time (at least in England) with the use of a semi-parlando/recitative style which keeps propelling the music forward, even in the slowest passages. Perhaps the most distinctive song is the last. I’ve seen this described as a being like a chorale prelude, with a simple tune in the violas being supported by generally slower moving music in the rest of the strings. This is in the purest G major, with hardly any chromatic inflection at all. It reminded me of the end of the Vaughan Williams 5th symphony in its expressive simplicity. 

I think that I was roped in to play a piece of Finzi at very short notice (I think I might have even sight read it in the concert) but I can’t remember what it was and don’t have any other experience of his music. I must have heard a few of the songs over the years, I suppose, but nothing has stayed in the memory. But this piece certainly will.

Weil: The Seven Deadly Sins

 Day 311

Weil: The Seven Deadly Sins

Anne Sofie Von Otter

NDR Symphony Orchestra

John Elliot Gardiner

I’ve not much experience of Kurt Weil. I’ve never seen any of his pieces on the stage (though I do recall seeing the film of the Threepenny Opera at university) and I know only a handful of the popular songs. I’ don’t recall hearing any of his orchestral works, though I know that some people speak very highly of them.

I couldn’t quite get on the right wavelength for the Seven Deadly Sins. The music for the small group of male singers seems very weak and characterless. The protagonist Jenny (there are two Jennies - a singer and dancer) has more interesting music but I found the juxtaposition of styles difficult to reconcile. At times this was pure agit prop, at other times cabaret and then operatic. It didn’t hang together for me. I imagine that without the visual impact of seeing a dancer you only get half of the effect of the piece, so perhaps judging it on purely musical terms is unfair. But I didn’t feel much like exploring more Kurt Weil.

Gounod: Biondina

Day 306

Gounod: Biondina

Anthony Rolfe Johnson

Graham Johnson

In the splendid Hyperion song edition the Gounod edition is divided into two sections - France and England. Biondina  is in the ‘England’ section, which seems odd for a song cycle in Italian written by a French composer.  The explanation is that this work was written during a long stay by the composer in England.

This is Gounod’s only song cycle. It tells a typical romantic story of a young man falling in love, marrying and then mourning the death of his loved one. The style is rather simpler than many contemporary French art songs - indeed has many similarities with late Victorian ballads. It is quite possible to imagine this being performed in a domestic setting with good amateur musicians. But the music is more sophisticated than the typical ballad with some piquant harmonic touches particular as the piece progresses and the mood darkens. 

Gounod’s reputation has not fallen as far as Meyerbeer’s but Faust is no longer at the centre of the repertoire. I don’t know a huge amount of his music but I do enjoy what I have heard. The only piece of Gounod I recall playing is the petite Symphonie for wind instruments which is an absolute delight. I do want to get to know more of his operas - there are plenty to go at.  

Webern: Songs with orchestra

Day 304

Webern: Songs with orchestra

Four songs op 13

Six songs op 14

Five sacred songs op 15

Five canons op 16

Three traditional rhymes op 17

Three songs op 18

Heather Harper (op 13-14)

Halina Lukomska

Instrumental ensemble

Pierre Boulez

I’m reasonably familiar with most of Webern’s orchestral and instrumental music but the songs are largely an unknown quantity - I have almost certainly one or two of them before but I have never explored them. These songs all date from the years 1914-1924 when Webern seems to have gone though some sort of artistic crisis and was able to compose very little. Although the list here of songs looks quite extensive each of these sets has only a few songs and nearly all of the songs are very short in duration - several less than a minute long. So there is probably only 30 mins or so concentrated listening here.

This music is now over 100 years old but I still find it extremely challenging to listen to. There are a few moments of near lyricism but otherwise this is tough and abrasive music which gives very little for the listener to relate to. Following these pieces with the score allows some sense of how the music is constructed - you can see some of the canonic passages work even if you can’t always hear it. But it would idle to pretend that this is anything but tough repertoire. The vocal writing is instrumental in style and I can’t imagine that can be satisfying to sing.

So a tough listen - I can’t imagine that I will be returning to these songs again.

Berg: Der Wein

Day 303

Berg: Der Wein

Anne Sofie Von Otter

Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

Claudio Abbado 

I discovered the music of Berg when I was still at school. I remember having an LP of the violin concerto and also of the double concerto and the three orchestral pieces. Since then I have heard most of his music and seen both of his operas but this composition had passed me by. It is a one-off concert aria written as a commission in 1930.

It is rather a curious piece. It starts off in a very serious mood with some knotty expressionist music typical of what we find in much of Wozzeck. But then there are moments of parody and near jazz. The solo part is difficult but still is obviously vocal music rather - Berg doesn’t treat the voice as just another instrument. I suspect that Der Wein will always be on the fringes of the repertory and I imagine it is a difficult piece to programme. It is not quite long enough to be a main feature of a concert yet is hardly suitable as an ‘extra’ after a more extended solo piece. But I am pleased to have heard it - I think that now I have heard all of the published music of Berg - for such an important figure there really is not that much to go at. 

J C F Bach: Die Amerikanerin

Day 177

Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach: Die Amerikanerin

Magdalena Kožená

Musica antiqua köln

Reinhard Goebel

JCF Bach was the fourth son of JSB to become a composer, although of the four he is the least well known. This cantata for solo voice and strings is an attractive work dating from 1776. The title and the year are pure coincidence - although the piece is called the American woman it has nothing to do with the USA - it was originally entitled A Moor's Song and American seems to have been a catch all phrase meaning exotic.

For 1776 the music seems quite old fashioned - much of it is reminiscent of Handel, particularly the dotted rhythms in the opening movement, though some of it does sound more like Gluck. It is quite attractive in its way though not particularly memorable and it does rather just come to a stop rather than any sort of proper conclusion.  It is obviously the work of a highly competent musician but I wouldn't put it any higher than that.

Satie: Socrate

Day 101

Satie: Socrate

Barbara Hannigan

Reinbert de Leeuw

It seems appropriate to follow up my exploration of Les Six with the composer who, while not being a member of the group, was in many ways their spiritual father. Satie can only be reckoned to be a minor composer but he was influential to a surprisingly large group of composer and therefore has a place in musical history which is more important than his actual output might deserve.

I have know Parade since I was at school - it is the sort of piece - using a typewriter and featuring gunshots - that would appeal to a youngster and I have played quite a few of the piano pieces but l although I had known about Socrate for a long time had never heard it before.

It is a very unexpected piece coming from a composer who was known for his eccentricities. It is a setting of words from Plato about Socrates, ending with a long passage about his death. It exists in two versions - one with piano accompaniment and one with small orchestra. The voice part does represent different characters but it is usually sung, as here, by one singer. The three movements together last just under half an hour. It is austere and restrained. The text is set more or less continuously in an arioso style which moves rather at the pace of ordinary speech - there is nothing ornamental in the vocal part and little which could be described as pure melody. The accompaniment is similarly restrained with very little music marked much above mf. The harmonic style is reminiscent of Fauré in places but elsewhere is rather freer: Satie had a predilection for writing chains of consecutive fourths which is very distinctive.

I’ve seen this piece described as boring. Certainly it doesn’t have many highs or lows or passages of great contrast, but I did find its rather austere beauty rather hypnotic and I enjoyed the experience. I read somewhere that the original audience were expecting something with Sadie’s usual jokiness and found it difficult to take the piece seriously. But approached with an open mind it certainly has much to offer.

Durey: Epigrammes de Théocrite

Day 72

Louis Durey: Epigrammes de Théocrite

François le Roux

Graham Johnson

Durey is always the name that people struggle to remember when asked to name the members of Les Six. He drifted away from the rest of the group fairly early and ploughed a lonely furlough as a member of the communist party who wrote songs for workers choirs. Indeed one on-line biography of his is headed 'the man who set Mao to music!'.

This brief cycle of four songs dates from 1918, even before the group was labeled Les Six. I found them rather charming. They inhabit the same musical world as the early works of Poulenc though in fact they were written before Poulenc had written anything of significance (he was at least 10 years older than his younger colleague). Durey himself acknowledged that the key influence was Satie, and there is certainly some of that composer's simplicity and characteristic quirkiness in these piece.

Whether Durey would be remembered at all had it not been for the fleeting time when he was brought together almost accidentally to be part of Les Six is open to question. But I am glad to have heard at least some of his music. I can't find any recordings of his setting of Mao or Ho Chi Min, so I have no idea whether or not they have any musical merit. But there are plenty of other songs on this recital disc - part of the invaluable Hyperion song edition - and I will explore some of those later.

Stenhammar: Four Songs op 26

Day 71

Stenhammar: Four songs from Songs and Mood-pictures op 26

Vandaren

Det far eat skepp

Jungfru Blond och jungfru Brunett

En strand visa

Anne Sofie von Otter

Bengt Forsberg

There's been a of a Scandinavian theme in recent postings in this blog, including Berwald and Nielsen with Grieg and Sibelius a few weeks ago. So today I have songs from a recital disc of Swedish songs from von Otter and Forsberg.

Stenhammer was a name which I knew, mainly as a symphonist, but I can't recall ever hearing any of his music. These four songs on the recital come from a collection of 10 songs dating from 1906-1909. I didn't have any idea what to expect and I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed these songs. They are quite contrasted in mood.  The first is a fairly simple lyrical piece , the second is a high speed fun-filled journey while the third and fourth are more serious in tone. The tonal language lies somewhere between Schumann and Wolf with the occasional hint of French lyricism.  Von Otter is in superb voice on this disc and the accompaniments are sensitive and , where necessary, forceful.

This was a real find: I'd had the CD on my shelves for years without listening to it. That's exactly what this project is all about. It is a pity that there are only these four songs from the set on the disc - there are recordings of the complete set and I am sure that before long I will seek those out. I am also intrigued to know what the symphonies are like.

Duparc:12 songs

Day 59

Duparc: 12 Songs

Charles Panzéra

Magdeleine Panzéra-Baillot

Duparc had one of the most extraordinary careers of all notable composers. He lived into his 80s but ceased composition completely in his mid 30s. The reasons for this are not completely clear but it seems he had some sort of mental crisis which made it impossible for his to composer again. He probably has the smallest output of any composer of real significance. Essential it amounts to one symphonic poem, a few miscellaneous bits and pieces and a group of a dozen or so songs - the exact number depends on how you deal with some juvenilia and revisions. But this dozen songs are, rightly, regarded as absolutely central to the French song repertory and are the equal of anything by Fauré or the other masters of the genre.

I knew a few of these songs individually but this was my first time hearing the set. What surprised me most was the sheer power and energy of some of the songs.  In my mind French song in general and Duparc in particular suggests dreaminess, yearning and rather limpid textures with plenty of quiet tremolo figures in the piano. There is certainly some of this but elsewhere  there there is fire and unrestrained passion. The piano parts are constantly inventive and there were some really interesting exchanges where the main melodic material moved from the singer to the piano and back.  Duparc’ harmonic language is refined and typically French - only occasionally was one reminded of Schumann or the German school. Duparc certainly had a tendency to move flatwards rather than sharpwards in his harmonic progressions and this certainly helps bring a reflective even melancholy to the more inward-looking songs.

This performance is by Charles Panzera and his wife, who we encountered in the Fauré songs a few weeks ago. The recording shows its age but is a really fine example of that particularly French  baritone sound that has now virtually disappeared.

Hahn: Venezia

Day 54

Hahn:Venezia

Anthony Rolfe Johnson

Graham Johnson

I have great affection for the songs of Reynaldo Hahn. They sit on the boundaries between mélodie and popular song and have all of the best features of both. Perhaps you should avoid listening to too many one after the other - to do so would be rather like overindulging in rich chocolate but heard a few at a time they are irresistible.  As ever Hyperion has done a real service for connoisseurs of French song with its 2 volume set of Hahn and several other single discs including this one of songs from and about Venice.

Venezia is a short cycle of six songs for tenor and piano with some other solo voices joining in the the last song. It is written in a popular Italian dialect but that hardly matters. What is so compelling about the music is how, in some simple gestures, Hahn conjures up the dream atmosphere of being serenaded in a gondola as you an oarsman gently propels you along a canal.

I knew the second song - La barchetta - indeed this performance by Rolfe Johnson is one of my favourite recordings of anything. He transforms himself from this rather proper English tenor who grew up in the English cathedral repertoire into a completely seductive Venetian lover- it is quite a revelation.  Hahn himself recorded his song to his own accompaniment - famously managing the melismas at the end of each verse in a single breath. But his performance is much more matter of fact that the one here. 

I’d not heard the entire cycle before - I loved it and will certainly be returning to it. Hahn is such a fascinating character - he was born in Venezuela and came to France as a chance. He knew everybody who mattered in literary and musical circles and ended his life after returning to France after exile during the Second World War (he was Jewish) to become director of the Opéra in Paris. He could never be ranked as a major composer but he is surely one of the most lovable of all those who didn’t quite make it to the very highest rung.

Musgrave: Wild Winter 1

Day 51

Musgrave: Wild Winter 1 - Lamentations for voices and viols

Susie LeBlanc

John Potter

Ian Honeyman

Richard Wiestreich

Fretwork

It has taken to day 51 for me to discuss the work of a living composer. And I have to confess rather shamefacedly that it was only when I read the review of the ENO revival of her opera Mary Queen of Scots that I realised that Thea Musgrave was still alive and working at the grand old age of 95. She must surely be the last pupil of Nadia Boulanger who is still composing.

I knew the name of course but I don't recall hearing any of her music before. This piece is an intriguing discovery - it is a setting for four solo singers and a consort of viols of various poems in different languages all reflecting on the horrors of war. The sonority of the viols bring a very distinctive sound to the music - at the same time both timeless but also very modern in the way that the instruments are used. it is not a straight setting of the texts but more of a kaleidoscope with the voices weaving in and out of each other and the poems overlapping with each other. In many ways it is the aural equivalent of a film with constant cuts between scenes and a mixture of wide angle and close up shots.  I found it very effective. I would describe the idiom as post Britten - slightly reminiscent of the very free interaction of voices and instruments in his church parables. I certainly will explore some more of Musgrave's music - there's plenty to go at as one one expect from a composer whose has been active since at least 1951. Perhaps she will celebrate her centenary with a new piece.

Cornelius: Trauer und Trost

Day 41

Cornelius: Trauer und Trost

Margaret Price

Graham Johnson

Many people know and love the Christmas carol Three Kings from Persian Lands Afar even if they don’t know the composer. It was originally a song for voice and piano by Peter Cornelius but the version we usually hear is an arrangement with the piano part (a chorale) sung by a mixed choir. Cornelius (1824-1874) was part of the circle round Wagner. He was the composer of The Barber of Baghdad, which I consider to be one of the very best comic operas ever written. It has everything - a Sullivanesque patter song, some lovely solo arias, big ensembles where everybody is at sixes and sevens with each other and a beautiful evocation of the call to prayer by the distant voices of the muezzin.

This small cycle of 6 songs dates from 1854. It contains the famous song on one note Ein Ton which I mentioned in my note on Rossini (day 34). I knew that but had not heard the others. What I hadn’t realised is that the one note -  a B - was persuasive throughout the cycle, though it is only Ein Ton where the vocal line is restricted to that one note.  These were attractive songs to listen to - contemplative and generally subdued as one would expect with a title which translates as Grief and Consolations. The melodic line is attractive but these are not really ‘tune’ songs - much of the interest lies in the harmony and the way that the vocal line explores the direction in which the piano takes the music. These songs are very much in the tradition of Schumann rather than looking forward to Wolf. Although Cornelius was a Wagnerian there is not much here that sounds like Wagner, although of course in 1854 Tristan and The Ring were still years away from completion. 

There are several more short cycles by Cornelius - I look forward to getting to know them.

Janáček: The diary of one who disappeared

 Day 37

Janáček: The diary of one who disappeared

Ian Bostridge

Ruby Philogene

Thomas Adès

My first experience of Janáček was listening to the Sinfonietta on an old second hand 10 inch mono LP on a small record player - I doubt that I got the full experience of the mass trumpet fanfares! I played the Lachian Dances in youth orchestra but although those are charming they are hardly representative of the composer's mature style. The only other Janáček I have played is the Glagolitic Mass - well it would be more accurate to say part of the Glagolitic Mass. It is horrendously difficult to perform and we had to abandon a couple of movements as beyond us. Even that wasn't enough, because I remember the performance breaking down completely at one point!

I was extremely fortunate to have as a lecturer and then as my PhD supervisor the great scholar of Czech music John Tyrrell. He was then beginning to make a name for himself as the UK's foremost expert on Janáček - partly through his very extensive notes for the ground breaking series of opera recordings conducted by Charles Mackerras. I read all of John's books on Janáček as they came out, culminating in his definitive two-volume biography of the composer. I got to know all of the operas during that time and they remain very close to my heart.

I knew about the diary of one who disappeared but I had never listened to it before today. What an extraordinary piece it is. Essentially it is a song cycle for tenor and piano but has a role for a female alto soloist and requires three offstage women's voices for several of the songs. It also has an extended movement for solo piano.  The whole thing takes about half an hour and within that time there are 22 separate songs, some lasting under a minute. The tenor line lies cruelly high - the last piece ends up with two spectacular top Cs and it must be an enormous undertaking to sing. The piano part is equally demanding.  The music is endlessly fascinating, with all of the characteristics of Janáček's mature style, including repeated short ostinato figures, speech rhythms and lyrical phrases punctuated by more declamatory outburst. 

I wouldn't like to listen to a live performance in a small room. With the tenor and the piano both at full belt the noise level is quite something. At times one felt that the composer was thinking in orchestral terms and that the piano was attempting to replicate the sound of a full orchestra, but at other times the music was reduced to a mere whisper.

You do need to be able to follow a translation closely when listening here - this is not a piece to lie back and absorb in the background. It probably needs several hearings before you get anything like a full understanding of what Janáček was trying to do. But for a first hearing I certainly got a lot out of this and will certainly go back to it again.

Schubert: Songs from 1825

Day 20

Schubert: Songs from 1825

Im Abendrot (1)

Der Einsame (2)

Die junge Nonne (3)

Lied Der Anne Lyle (4)

Gesang der Norna (5)

Des Sängers Habe (6)

Auf der Bruck (7)

Im Walde (8)

Der blinde Knabe (9)

Totengräbers Heimweh (10)

 

Christine Brewer (1)

Richard Jackson (2) (6)

Margaret Price (3) (9)

Marie McLaughlin (4) (5)

Peter Schreier (7) (8)

Christopher Maltman (10)

Graham Johnson

How does one get to grips with the vast corpus of Schubert songs? Depending on how you count variants and fragments there are well over 600 of them. John Reed in his Schubert Song Companion comes to a total of 631 but readily accepts that there will never be a single definitive answer.

I know the song cycles and most of the famous songs but much of the rest is completely unknown to me. I indulged in purchasing the box set of the complete Schubert songs issued by Hyperion a few years ago and sometimes I think that it is staring at me, challenging me to tackle each and every song. One day (or should say year) I might tackle this.

The Hyperion Schubert set was originally issued as a separate recitals with songs from various periods, but the reissue has them organised in date order. This meant that for this project I was able to sample a group from the same year. I chose 1825, 200 years ago, and listened to 10 songs. 

What astonishing variety there is in this music. From the almost domestic ambience of the first song through to the near-Wagnerian intensity of no 3 - the only song in this group that I remember hearing before. As ever the piano parts a delight. Schubert has a way of making even the most simply harmonic support to the melody come to life and there are lots of little touches in these songs that bring a smile - such as the chirping of the cricket in no 2. The harmonic range in these songs is quite extraordinary. Again even in the simplest diatonic songs there are touches of chromatic inflections which take you by surprise. 

The last of these 10 songs left the greatest impression on me. It starts of in that quite heavy ‘plodding’ way we know from the late song cycles as the gravedigger goes about his daily task but as he contemplates his own death and wonders who will bury him the mood changes into something very introspective and almost transcendental - the music hangs in the air and takes us in all sorts of directions. A piece like this really makes you wonder what on earth Schubert matured music might have been like had he lived into his old age - after all he was only 15 years younger than Wagner. It is one of the great imponderables of music.

I’m sure that later in this project I will return to Schubert’s songs and take another dip into that big box of CDs. How lucky we are that Graham Johnson was there to partner all of these singers and to write such inspiring commentary on the songs. The box set includes all of the translations but there is not room for the commentary - but the notes to the individual songs can be found on line. Johnson did publish expanded versions of his notes in a massive three volume companion to the Schubert songs. It is unfortunately out of print and second hand copies command very high prices.