Ian Bostridge and Leif Ove Andsnes.(SCHUBERT: SONATA D. 959; FOUR LIEDER)(Sound Recording Review)

* "SCHUBERT: SONATA D. 959; FOUR LIEDER" Texts and translations. EMI 57226

This is a well-planned program. It's enlightening to hear Schubert's lieder in the context of his instrumental music, just as attendees at the original Schubertiades did. In this program, a dark mood predominates, as if pianist Leif Ove Andsnes and tenor Ian Bostridge were intent on dispelling the image of Schubert as the genial charmer of "Heidenroslein" and the "Trout" quintet. The four lieder are carefully chosen to carry forward the expressive mode of the A-major sonata; in fact, the opening of "Pilgerweise" is an almost direct echo of the opening of the sonata's andantino. The first three lieder here, "Pilgerweise," "Der Ungluckliche" and "Auf der Strom," are big pieces, approaching the scale of opera arias. "Auf der Strom" features a trumpet obbligato, and in its second verse, there's a nearly direct quote from the funeral march of Beethoven's Eroica Symphony. The fourth song, "Die Sterne," makes a relatively lightweight capper, functioning almost as an encore, but it too reflects a Beethovenian influence, reworking the rhythm of the Seventh Symphony's Allegretto.

Bostridge makes a wonderfully persuasive case for these pieces. The tone is slender ...