The Hyperion Schubert Edition 34 / 1817 - 1821

The Hyperion Schubert edition has moved into its final phase--surveys of songs not yet covered, arranged by period. The years 1817-21 were some of the most productive of Schubert's short life--he left home and lived with friends, possibly lovers, was briefly arrested by the secret police, and started to be recognized as a real force in Viennese music. Among the high points of this disc of songs, part songs, and a chamber cantata are Thomas Hampson's dangerous, dreamy performance of "Atys," a setting of a poem about sexual ambiguity and ambivalence by Schubert's roommate Mayrhofer and Christopher Maltman's delicate rendering of the well-known "Wanderer's Nightsong." Philip Langridge is charming in "Die Einsiedelei" with its sense of the need for pastoral retreat. The various part songs, in which singers as well-known as Ian Bostridge and John-Mark Ainsley put in guest appearances, make relaxing interludes between masterpieces. Graham Johnson's commentary in the accompanying booklet is as helpful and intelligent as his piano accompaniment. --Roz Kaveney