Schubert: Die schöne Müllerin D795

Composed by Franz Schubert

Philips / 456-581-2

Recorded in 1999 at the Mozarteum, Salzburg, Austria

'From its opening notes, this disc promises an engaging listen. Wolfgang Holzmair and Imogen Cooper have Schubert's idiom well in voice and hands, respectively, and capture Wilhelm Müller's youth setting out in "Das Wandern" to perfection. Like their 'Winterreise,' this is a listening experience to savour. Holzmair's bright, youthful tone is highly appropriate for the opening songs of the cycle as the youth's wandering begins and he comes to the brook which leads him to a mill and the mill-maiden (the schöne Müllerin of the title). Rejected by her in favour of the huntsman the tone shifts to darker colours as the cycle progresses, and Holzmair and Cooper match that gradual change in their performance. There are minor slips of vocal technique and diction, but these cannot mar the fact that this is as sensitive a performance of one of Schubert's masterworks as can be found on disc.'