Schubert: The Final Year
This is the 37th and final volume of theHyperion Schubert  Edition. In his (as always) informative and passionately personal  program notes,Graham  Johnson, pianist and  guiding spirit of the series, bids this monumental undertaking a  touching farewell. The 20 songs on this disc, including the cycleSchwanengesang, are among Schubert's last and greatest; most of them are dark, somber, haunted, and--especially in  these deeply felt performances--utterly heartbreaking. In Johnson's  version of the Three Tenors, the songs' original keys are retained  while their character is enhanced by the singers' vocal timbre and  style. Schade's bright voice matches the cheerful, optimistic songs  outside the cycle, and he blends well with the horn in "Auf dem Strom."  In the Heine songs, Rolfe Johnson's approach is dramatic, declamatory,  almost operatic. Ainsley has the darkest voice and gives the Rellstab  songs great simplicity and inwardness; his balance between poetic and musical prosody, and between a lighthearted text and its  dark musical undercurrent, is perfect. One song, placed so as to  separate the two parts ofSchwanengesang, is shared by all three  singers. Their diction is equally good, though two are English and one  is German; the impression of a vocal competition is avoided through the  diversity of their voices and styles. Johnson's playing continues to be  pure magic. His sound is incredibly beautiful--he brings out hidden  melodies, imitates a guitar and a galloping horse, and has an incomparable  sensitivity to the music and his partners.--Edith Eisler