Marcus Creed - Schubert: Nachtgesang, Rias Kammerchor (1999) CD-Rip

This is a beautiful, heartwarming record. Schubert's part-songs, originally written for friendly gatherings at home, have never received the recognition they deserve, perhaps partly because he himself underrated them. Yet their extraordinary variety of mood, character, and texture, (often within a single song) and the inspired melodies, harmonic surprises, and magical modulations, are vintage Schubert. This selection focuses on "night" both literally and symbolically; it is imaginatively arranged to contrast strophic and through-composed songs; settings for male, female, and combined voices, sometimes imitating or echoing a solo voice; and songs with and without instrumental accompaniment. The music is by turns simple, cheerful, mysterious, somber, serenely luminous, and almost operatically dramatic. There is a gently parodistic Serenade, sung by women, and a devout biblical Psalm; the two best poems are by Goethe. The performances are wonderful, pristine in sound yet deeply expressive; the alto and tenor solos are ravishing. -- Edith Eisler