Presto Recording of the Week
30th December 2022

Gramophone Magazine
March 2023
Editor's Choice

Matthias Goerne (baritone), Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen

Schubert: An Sylvia, D891
Schubert: Schäfers Klagelied, D121 (Goethe)
Schubert: Ganymed, D544 (Goethe)
Schubert: Fahrt zum Hades, D526 (Mayrhofer)
Schubert: Schatzgräbers Begehr D761 (Schober)
Schubert: Der Tod und das Mädchen, D531
Schubert: Erlkönig, D328
Schubert: Wandrers Nachtlied I 'Der du von dem Himmel bist', D224
Schubert: Grenzen der Menschheit, D716
Schubert: Harfenspieler I 'Wer sich der Einsamkeit ergibt', D478
Schubert: Das Heimweh D851 (Pyrker)
Schubert: Pilgerweise D789 (Schober)
Schubert: Abendstern, D806
Schubert: Alinde, D904
Schubert: Stimme der Liebe D412 (Stolberg)
Schubert: Des Fischers Liebesgluck, D933 (Leitner)
Schubert: An die Entfernte, D765 (Goethe)

Matthias Goerne, one of the most high-profile Schubertians of his generation, has recorded a selection of Schubert’s songs not in their original versions with piano but in orchestral arrangements by Alexander Schmalcz, Goerne’s accompanist of many years’ standing. Goerne says about Alexander Schmalcz’s arrangements: “His creativity in adapting these songs for the orchestra is enormous, while his stylistic sensibilities and his subtle approach in deploying the right instruments at the right moment are truly astonishing.” “Schubert’s ability to empathize makes him one of the most important composers in the whole of human history. (…) He created “a perfect balance between intellectuality and the greatest naturalness. With Schubert, even the most complicated melodies and forms sound entirely natural.” (Goerne) And yet what we hear on this album is “pure Schubert”, Alexander Schmalcz insists. “I have added nothing. Sometimes I fill out the voices by doubling the octave, for example. Or I write sustained chords in the orchestra in order to simulate the sound-surfaces that are the result of the use of the sustaining pedal on the piano. But my goal is to be as original as possible.”

"Schmalcz’s orchestrations never seek to gild the lily or to push the singer into a more operatic form of delivery - textures are beautifully uncluttered, leaving Goerne free to sculpt and colour phrases with the utmost subtlety and intimacy...In his insightful booklet-note Goerne writes affectionately of Schubert’s ability to strike ‘a perfect balance between intellectuality and the greatest naturalness’, and that same equilibrium is evident in every phrase of the performances here." - Katherine Cooper, Presto Music, 30th December 2022.