Intimacy and imagination are at the heart of realising and appreciating Schubert’s extraordinary legacy of Lieder. Singer and pianist together create a subtle alchemy that unlocks the listener’s emotions, allowing each to respond uniquely to the composer’s carefully crafted psychological sound world.

Schubert Revisited

Such is the emotional power of Schubert’s writing it is unsurprising that artists have wanted to explore his Lieder in ways that move beyond the traditional recital with voice and keyboard. Dramatizations of Winterreise, for example, have yielded mixed results, arguably the most successful being Allan Clayton’s astoundingly powerful portrayal that so captivated Australian and English audiences last year. 

Orchestrations of Schubert’s Lieder have abounded since time of Brahms, with Berlioz, Reger, Liszt and Webern trying their hand at colouring these miniature masterpieces. With such attempts come risks and rewards; particularly the temptation to sacrifice intimacy on the altar of imagination.

Enter Matthias Goerne, one of this generation’s most respected Schubertians. He has already recorded some Schubert songs in chamber arrangements with the excellent Quatuor Ebène, but here he sings 19 of the master’s Lieder with sympathetic, richly detailed...