Franz Schubert
Franz Schubert (1797–1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. In only thirty-one years he left a vast body of work, including over six hundred Lieder, and remains among the most frequently performed composers.
His output runs from intimate Lieder and the great song cycles Die schöne Müllerin and Winterreise to chamber music such as the String Quintet in C major, piano Impromptus and late sonatas, liturgical works, and the celebrated Unfinished Symphony. Songs including Erlkönig, Ave Maria and Der Hirt auf dem Felsen still anchor recital programmes.
Recordings here return often to that core: a complete bilingual Winter Journey (MCD 594), the String Quintet with Der Hirt auf dem Felsen (TP011), unfinished piano sonatas, Impromptus, and salon settings for voice with clarinet or guitar.
Franz Schubert is featured on the following titles
Franz Schubert: Sonata No. 20 in A Major, D. 959
Australian pianist Ronald Farren-Price brings intimacy and power to Schubert’s late Sonata No. 20 in A major, D. 959, balancing virtuosity with a deep feeling for the work’s melodic beauty and shifting moods.
Acts of Homage
Acclaimed pianist Ian Holtham marks the centenary of Brahms’s death and the bicentenary of Schubert’s birth. The programme sets Schubert’s late impromptus beside Brahms’s Handel Variations and late piano pieces, with Godowsky’s song transcriptions as a further homage.
Imo Pectore
With Ian Holtham as guide, Imo Pectore – ‘music from the inner-most recesses of the heart’ – gathers four works of private intensity by Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann and Rachmaninov.
Winter Journey
For this recording of Schubert’s Winterreise, Op. 89 (D. 911), pianist Brian Chapman prepared a new English translation and, with baritone Nathan Lay, recorded the full cycle in English and German across two CDs, presented with a lavish 56-page book of 24 paintings by Lucy Chapman.
Compositions by Franz Schubert also appear on
Crossing Paths
Ensemble Liaison and the Tony Gould Trio take turns across the programme: each piece is heard first in a scored reading, then in an improvised jazz response that opens the same melodic and harmonic material to fresh colour.
Hymne à l’amour
Hymne à l’amour is an exquisite collection of art songs from soprano Siobhán Stagg and pianist Amir Farid. The programme traces the frailty of the human condition through flirtation, deep love and heartbreaking truths.
Wordless Meanings
In the beginning there was harmony – before anyone asked “What sort of music do you play?”, before everyone grew too busy to listen, before music became ‘the industry’. Somewhere along the way, harmony was lost in a cacophony of meaningless words.
A Classic Case of Love
Soprano Helen Noonan and guitarist Peter Constant present an intimate programme of love songs spanning centuries, from folk and early music to Schubert, Satie, Villa-Lobos and the twentieth-century stage and songbook.
Bolero: Music for Organ 4 Hands
Douglas Lawrence and Elizabeth Anderson play organ four hands on the Melbourne Concert Hall’s French-style Casavant. Bolero gathers favourites and rarities arranged or written for two players at one console.
Teamwork
An eminently listenable collection of piano music for four and six hands. Romantic, brilliant and companionable by turns, it is an exciting, all-stops-out tour de force from the Team of Pianists.
With Tenderness, With Fire
Ronald Farren-Price encores his hugely popular Reflections with this solo recital, ranging from the sublime beauty of a Beethoven Adagio to the thundering splendour of Prokofiev’s Toccata.
Just Married: Organ Music for a Wedding
A compilation of history's most celebrated organ music, long popular at weddings. The insert notes usefully group the tracks as processionals, recessionals and music for the signing of the register.
Torquing Points
An exciting juxtaposition of 20th-century Australian and 19th-century European styles. Gordon Kerry's Torquing Points for String Quartet and Mark Pollard's The Quick or the Dead sit approachably beside the classical works on this programme.
Reflections
Internationally acclaimed pianist Ronald Farren-Price offers superb performances of some of the greatest music written for the piano, in a wide-ranging recital of favourite short works.
Night and Dreams
Soprano Merlyn Quaife and guitarist Jochen Schubert present songs by Mozart and Schubert, among them the Serenade and Nacht und Träume, with Spanish and Argentinian folksong settings by Moretti, Gerhard and Guastavino.
Lotus Dreams
Soprano Shu-Cheen Yu and pianist Katherine Day present eighteen favourite songs and ballads, from Brahms and Schubert to Chinese and Irish folk airs, a personal path through Lieder and art song.
Birds Bees and Butterflies
Songs of love and springtime sung by Pamela Wainwright and accompanied by Andrew Frampton.
Lady Sings the Viol
The concept behind Lady Sings the Viol was a CD of “covers”: five singers, alone and together, take songs from 1300 to the present, from Piaf and Schubert to John Paul Jones and Elena Kats-Chernin.
The Shepherd and the Mermaid
The winning combination of voice, clarinet and piano delighted intimate gatherings and inspired many lovely works. Australian soprano Elena Xanthoudakis is joined by clarinettist Jason Xanthoudakis and pianist Clemens Leske as TrioKROMA.
Impromptu
A collection of Impromptus, Fantasies and Impressions for piano solo, played by Brian Chapman. Although only two pieces carry the title Impromptu, many of the other works share an improvisatory quality.
Pianists of Excellence
The Team of Pianists is acclaimed in Europe and Australia for vitality and freshness of technique. This recital presents solo piano works by Haydn, Schubert, Schumann, Chopin, Brahms and Sculthorpe, played by four of its members.