Graham Johnson - Schubert: The Hyperion Schubert Edition, Vol. 37 - John Mark Ainsley, Anthony Rolfe Johnson & Michael Schade - The Final Year

The glories of this final disc in the Hyperion Schubert Edition are hard to over-praise. Three tenors sing 20 songs from 1828, the last year of Schubert�s short life. The programme begins with Auf den Strom (On the River) sung by German/Canadian Michael Schade, with horn obbligato superbly played by David Pyatt. This is followed by Herbst, the two unrecorded Refrainlieder and a fragment, Lebensmut. Then follows Schwanengesang sung by two tenors: John Mark Ainsley sings the Rellstab settings (including a wondrous St�ndchen and a heartrending In der Ferne) and Anthony Rolfe Johnson sings the Heine ones (including a hair-raising D�ppelg�nger) and, at the end, Die Taubenpost, Schubert�s last song. The two halves of Schwanengesang are separated by Glaube, Hoffnung und Liebe sung by all three tenors.All of the music on this album is also available as part of the specially priced box set The Complete Songs of Franz Schubert: �This is an archive of glorious Lieder singing as much as it is a definitive treasury of the greatest Lieder ever composed� (The Guardian).