Naxos
2005
Schubert: Schiller-Lieder, Vols. 3 & 4
About This Album
These are beautifully sung, emotionally nuanced performances of 18 of Schubert's settings of Schiller arranged in a nicely balanced program. Unfortunately, it has two things against it: ballades that seem to go on forever, and second and even third versions of settings of the same text. Maya Boog has a haunting lyrical soprano, Lothar Odinius has a heroically sensitive tenor, and Ulrich Eisenlohr accompanies them with consummate artistry, but Boog and Eisenlohr cannot keep Klage der Ceres going for 16 and a half minutes anymore than Odinius and Eisenlohr can keep Die Erwartung going for 10 and a half minutes or Eine Leichenphantasie going for almost 19 long minutes. In the shorter songs, Boog is lovely. Her legato in Des Mädchens Klage is meltingly beautiful and her tone in Die Götter Griechenlands is achingly yearning. But she cannot sustain the patchy invention of Klage der Ceres. Odinius is exemplary. His phrasing in Der Jüngling am Bache is marvelously inward and his articulation of the text is impeccable. But he cannot make the creaky drama of Die Erwartung and Leichenphantasie convincing. Eisenlohr is, as he has been in previous volumes of the Naxos Deutsche Schubert-Lied Edition, a supportive but dynamic accompanist whose playing brings the best out of the singers and the songs. But even he cannot breathe life into three versions of Der Jüngling am Bache, three versions of Des Mädchens Klage, the second setting of the second version of Thekla. Eine Geisterstimme. Anyone who has been collecting the Naxos Schubert-lied Edition should by all means listen to these discs. First-time listeners to Schubert's lieder might try a single-disc collection by Elisabeth Schwarzkopf or Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau first. Naxos' sound is clear, near, and detailed. ~ James Leonard, All Music Guide
Track List

An Den Frühling II ("Willkommen, Schöner Jüngling!"), Song For Voice & Piano, D. 283 (Op. Posth. 172/5)
1.
Die Götter Griechenlands ("Schöne Welt, Wo Bist Du"), Song For Voice & Piano (two Versions), D. 677
2.
Des Mädchens Klage I ("Der Eichwald Brauset"), Song For Voice & Piano, D. 6
3.
Des Mädchens Klage II ("Der Eichwald Braust"), Song For Voice & Piano (two Versions), D. 191 (Op. 58/3)
4.
Des Mädchens Klage III ("Der Eichwald Braust"), For Voice & Piano, D. 389
5.
Klage Der Ceres ("Ist Der Holde Lenz Erchienen"), Song For Voice & Piano, D. 323
6.
Thekla. Eine Geisterstimme ("Wo Ich Sei..."), Song For Voice & Piano (first Version), D. 73
7.
Thekla ("Wo Ich Sei..."), Song For Voice & Piano (second And Third Versions), D. 595 (Op. 88/2)
8.
9.
An Den Frühling I ("Willkommen, Schöner Jüngling!"), Song For Voice & Piano, D. 587
10.