Customer Reviews

Franz Schubert: The Complete Songs

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The recording of all 600-plus of Franz Schubert's songs was a labor of love for Hyperion Records and accompanist Graham Johnson. The project was characterized by a consistent level of top-notch performances by some of the premier Lied singers of our generation. While there might seem an economy in buying this complete 40-disc set, Beware. Inside the box you get 37 CDs of Schubert's songs for piano and voice presented in chronological order of composition, plus three CDs of songs by contemporary composers, often setting the same poems that Schubert used. Also included is a 400-page book of The Complete Song Texts, but here is the rub: the book lacks the liner notes from the individual CD booklets of the series.

Graham Johnson's original commentaries had insights into the genesis of the songs and the technical features fitting music to text. Where you got an exhaustive paragraph (or five) devoted to each song, here you get only a thumbnail biography of each year in Schubert's life followed by the texts of the songs for that year. The print is very small and the English translations are in an italicized font that makes the h's look like b's. Hyperion admits the difficulty of reprinting the original liner notes: "Several university presses have shown interest until they realised the scale of the project. We have worked out that the publication would run to nearly a million words--without the song texts. It would need at least two volumes. So we must see." In the meantime there is John Reed's Schubert Song Companion with commentaries on a majority of these songs.

There is a scholarly benefit to the chronological sequencing of the songs; you can trace Schubert's development from precocious teen to master songcrafter. There is some tediousness in the early material, however. Adrian Thompson tackles a lot of the awkward young works, and generally I would want to skip these when relistening to the set. Another quirk of the chronological presentation is that it divides Winterreise across two CDs. Schubert composed this work in two parts as he discovered Müller's poems, hence there are intervening songs that divide the opus. Frankly, I would have preferred Winterreise on one disc.

It is nice, in one way, that by reordering the series you get a continuously varied lineup of performers; sopranos followed by tenors followed by altos and baritones. If, however, you want to listen to everything recorded by Arleen Auger, her material is scattered across fifteen discs. There is something to be said for the focus of the original CDs--Goethe songs, strophic songs, water songs, night, nature, etc. Schubert had a vast output that lends itself to thematic programming. Graham Johnson himself frames it best in the notes to Volume 1:

"[The lesser-known songs] are, in their own shy way, treasures, but placed together in a large jewel-case, a boxed set, there is a danger that too many of them, one after the other, make a dull effect.... Should they not be displayed a few at a time where the famous items of the collection throw light on, rather than show up, their humbler brothers?"

There are omissions in the box set, not of actual songs but of individual performances. Janet Baker's rendition of "Der Pilgrim" D794 is left out to avoid duplication with Thomas Allen's. Three tracks from Brigitte Fassbaender's solo disc are replaced with takes by other singers. So on for Anthony Rolfe Johnson, Margaret Price and others.

If I had to do it all over again I would invest in each of the individual CDs of the series. If a book of the liner notes is ever published, that will be another chunk of money, diminishing the economy of the box set. For those of you interested in Schubert's chronological development as a song writer--get the original CDs, rip them as MP3s onto your computer, resequence them according to Hyperion's Web site and upload them onto your iPod.

Without trying to add to the discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of the individual releases vs. the complete box set, I should like to point out that as of this writing (May 2009) these recordings are available on the Hyperion website for 25% and 55%, respectively, less than the Amazon price. The 37 individual disks come to GBP 390 and the box set is GBP 135. At the current exchange rate, this equals $620 (Amazon: c. $815) and $215 (Amazon: $480).

ADDITION (June 6): The individual CDs have subsequently been repackaged by Hyperion in standard jewel cases and several of them don't come with the full song-by-song notes any more.

I concur in full with the previous review of this marvelous collection. The liner notes, photos, and additonal information from Graham Johnson in the original individual discs were the best I have ever read. I have about a dozen of them. I was sorely disappointed to find in the big box only a small-print version of the songs, convenient in one place, but without the splendid commentaries. Bring on the bukly reprint!

I concur with Tom Lawrence, "Florestan" and Angus Grant in their reviews. As someone with a decent collection of Schubert song CD's, over 40, the set as presented is an academic achievement and useful for sampling individual songs otherwise unavailable on disk. However for entertainment or casual listening I just do not play the individual disks but return to the song recitals of the original issue, or other recital disks. Apart from some extended listening on first purchase, and occasional searching for a particular rarely performed song as a reference performance, it sits un-played.

The booklet is beyond a nuisance. Even as just a location index to the series it has its problems, the type in bold face is too small and set too close together to read, I do not need glasses to read and, have to use use a low powers magnifying glass - if only an additional 1/2 line of blank space had been allowed between the entries if a standard 12 pt. type face were not to be used. In order to find songs I have had to blow up a Xerox of the pages to 11 x 8 in. sheets to provide me with a working index. For the song texts I use another source. One wishes that Hyperion had provided the full materials from the original issue, and on CD as a PDF if their printing is in such reduced size so that that texts etc. could then be printed out in what ever size an individual requires.

When I started collecting the Hyperion Schubert recital or program disks back in 1987 or '88 with the Janet Baker and Stephen Varcoe programs, I wonder whether it might be just another of those well-intended, ambitious, "complete edition" projects, whether in music or book publishing, that never quite sees its way to completion. Still, nothing would be lost in acquiring thees well-produced disks one by one, even if the series never reached the end -- great music, fine performances by stellar interpreters. In fact, it was a pleasure (sort of a game of anticipation) to check the Hyperion adverts in Gramophone magazine each month to see if a new disk was to be issued the next month.

Hyperion's and Graham Johnson's dedication saw the project through 37 program/recital disks, plus the Schubert friends and contemporaries set. And then came the chronological set forecast by Johnson in notes an earlier program/recital disk (he and Hyperion proved good as their word). (Since then, he's completed his Schumann series too.)

Enthusiasm has led me acquire both complete Schubert sets: the program/recital disks and the chronological set. If I were forced to do so, it would be hard to choose between them: each gives you a particular view of Schubert. The individually issued disks focus on a theme Schubert explored (classical mythology, Schiller, Goethe, the annus mirabilis 1815, etc.) and usually (though not always) a single singer. Three generations of Schubert interpreters have participated. Some budding Schubert singers made early appearances in the series and later flowered into the current ruling generation of performers. Ian Bostridge for example appeared first in a Schubertiad disk and later, joined with Fischer-Dieskau as reader, scaled the peak of Die Schoene Muellerin. Mathias Goerne is another, who appeared in a recital disk and then moved on to Die Winterreise. There were also beautiful performances by voices now no longer performing (e.g., Peter Schreier or Edith Mathis) or, sadly, silenced by death (Arlene Auger or Lucia Popp).

Hyperion has seen through a grand project, grandly realized. To cap the climax, I can't wait for publication of Johnson's companion volume, encompassing and supplementing the research evident in his CD-booklet notes: enquiry with Yale University Press indicates it will be issued in 2010. (It should be a worthy companion to Johnson and Stokes' A French Song Companion, Oxford:2000.)

If you can afford the $1000 or so needed to get both sets, take a deep breath and do so: you'll be glad you did. (I had the good fortune to be able to do expense it in dribs and drabs, so it's easy to say "get both" I realize.) But, if Schubert's historical development is what interests you more, then the chronological boxed set is a wonderful experience, available nowhere else. On the other hand, acquiring all of the individual issues, dating back to 1987, gives you the astonishing experience of recitals by the cream of Schubert lieder singers for the last half of the 20th Century. In either case, you get the governing genius of Graham Johnson, worthy successor of the great Gerald Moore. I own thousands of lieder and French, English, Slavic, Spanish, and Italian classical song recordings, the two Hyperion Schubert sets, taken together, are the centerpiece.

The unanimous complaints and regrets that have been stirred up due to the lack of liner notes - in the case of Graham Johnson's CDs, an absolute delight - are very wellfounded. Recently (not sure when), Hyperion Records did something that I was hoping that they would do for a long time: they have begun to upload all of their liner notes, making them available for download. Many of their records that have been out of print for a while and only available through their "Archive Service" have received this treatment as well - and this includes all of the individual Schubert CD volumes!

Needless to say, I'm enjoying my box set immensely, much more so than if the only reference I had was the relatively cumbersome "Complete Song Texts." I imagine it will take me the better part of a year to get through all of them.

As of this writing (January 2011), most of the 37 liner note booklets are available for download in their entirety. My rating of 5 is entirely contingent on Hyperion maintaining this service to anyone who has access to the Internet. Readers beware, record companies do have a profit motive, however - if it becomes obvious that making liner notes available for download hurt profits, I wouldn't be surprised if they removed them.

Make no mistake, Tom Lawrence's excellent review of this set is on the money (slight pun intended), the only problem being that for those "excellent liner notes" you'd have to spend an extra, roughly $350. There are 37 individual Hyperion releases of Schubert's songs which are about $20 a piece here on Amazon - that totals $740 for all 37 volumes. Here you have 40 volumes for about $400 - basically half price. If you're wealthy enough that $350 is pocket change and want those liner notes, by all means, go that route. However, for the classical consumer on a budget, buy this set, enjoy the performances, and take that $300 or so you saved and go buy a companion books such as The Schubert Song Companion, and/or do some research on the internet and find some good articles and analyses and enjoy many hours of the best songs ever written in the classical form.

If, like me, you've wistfully stared at this box as one of the holy cornerstones of a good music collection, it's time to take action now. A particular vendor has somehow found the ability to offer this jewel for the insanely low price of $175, less than $4.40 per CD. If you check the prices of the individual CD releases from this collection, this is a huge deal. As long as that price remains available, all concerns about paper CD notes and the like fly by the wayside. With the money you save, you can buy The Schubert Song Companion as I did, as well as take advantage of Hyperion's PDF files that accompany each individual release on the Hyperion website in order obtain all of Mr. Johnson's notes. You can download every note on every CD now, people! Heck, you can even get every original issue's album cover and photoshop a collage, if you want to! So what complaints and/or excuses does that leave us? There may indeed be better interpretations of certain lieder on other CDs, but that's not why we're getting this set, is it? It isn't to provide a definitive version of these songs, but rather to lay the foundation upon which you can place your other recordings for added dimension and appreciation. I do this all the time where I create an itunes file with two different recordings of the same work. In forming an audial comparison, we greatly add to our understanding. For this same reason, I often turn to the contents of the Brilliant Classics Mozart box or their Bach box. It's time to make this investment in the art and understanding of one of song's greatest masters.

I found Ryan Morris's 5-star review of this item, "Unless u r a spoiled brat......this is nothing less than a five" deeply flawed. In addition to lacking decorum, ad hominem attacks (to wit: "u r a spoiled brat") portend an argument where appeals to reason succumb to expressions of rapture. So far as I can tell, Ryan Morris's review does just that. I too have listened to the entire series. There is plenty to treasure, but "absolute, total, enjoyment from beginning to end" is a rather exaggerated claim. No one questions Graham Johnson's ardor, nor fails to marvel in the unprecedented scope of Hyperion's Schubert project. But "allowing [one]sself the awe of this project" is no substitute for more objective, detailed engagement with the material it comprises.

Ryan Morris characterizes the omission of Johnson's liner notes both as a "minor quibble" and a "trivial matter." To this I take great exception. Johnson's original liner notes betray the handiwork of a man in almost unprecedented sympathy with the material. The same cannot be said of his playing. His musical limitations as an accompanist are especially evident in the early songs, where Schubert's eventual mastery of the idiom could not be convincingly presaged--the bloated szenen-cum-lieder Vatermorder and Leichenfantasie, for example. In the latter, despite the fact that Thomas Allen's voice is unquestionably kinder on the ear than Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau's ever was, his recording does not compare favorably. For D F-D, Gerald Moore's playing is laden with color and lends the performance some needed forward momentum. It communicates in ways that a brave singer battling Schubert's exceptionally cruel tessituras cannot. For Allen, Johnson's playing can most politely be described as sterile. There is nothing especially evocative about it. The piano always sounds like a piano.

Johnson is everywhere praised as a wunderkind accompanist of daunting intellect. I believe it is more accurate to describe Johnson as a wunderkind musicologist who happens to be a competent pianist. Reading Johnson's extensive notes as I listened to the 11 extant volumes of the Schumann song edition served only to confirm this impression. Johnson's notes would have been a tremendous asset to this set. Without them, this set's greatest virtue lies in the opportunity to hear several songs for the very first (and possibly the last?) time. This must be qualified to some extent: some of the rarities heard here came by their fates honestly. Hyperion's decision to re-sequence these songs chronologically was, on the whole, a regrettable one. Tracing the evolution of Schubert's art is not necessarily the best means of developing enduring appreciation for it. I suppose there is something to be said for "mixing" it up singer-wise. Though all of the singers who participated in this project were immensely talented, some were recorded well past their primes and/or saddled with songs poorly suited to their manner of singing. The new sequence tends to smooth the rough spots/let them off the hook. Many lieder fans (this one included) welcome the prospect of their favorite recordings being one-upped by something/someone new. Anyone harboring such an agenda is apt to find this set sorely lacking. With all due respect to Ryan Morris, "sorely lacking" has no place in a 5-star review.

So many wise words from the above reviewers.

You are only going to buy this set if you are a avid collector or for Academic interest. It certainly is enlightening hearing Schubert's style develop throughout the set. However, as a clever as I think I am, I would be getting so much more out of this process if I had Johnson's essays to guide my listening. They were the reason, as much as the recordings themselves that I wanted to have this collection. I actually regret having it now. I rarely listen to it, as it is rather unapproachable as it is, especially not having the unifying thread of the artists to help you through. The presentation is also very average. The slimline cases will scratch and look tatty with repeated listening and it's not as if it is a bargain box, although cheaper than the individual discs. Having a chunk of foam to stop the book rattling around is really rather ordinary and tawdry.

I think at the very least Hyperion could put the essays on a CD ROM if they say the cost of printing them is too prohibitive.

It still has to have four stars because of the quality of the recordings and the cheap price, but you would be better off spending the extra money and buying the individual discs.