Among top-tier classical composers, Franz Schubert may well have left the most impressive showing in terms of sheer productivity within his rather limited range of time; though active only about 18 years, Schubert produced some 1,100 works -- one does not know when he must have slept; perhaps he didn't. In the budget category, Decca has produced the five-CD set Ultimate Schubert, which contains just 11 works -- one one-hundredth of his output -- in decent, mostly older, stereo recordings. The performances chosen are ...
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Among top-tier classical composers, Franz Schubert may well have left the most impressive showing in terms of sheer productivity within his rather limited range of time; though active only about 18 years, Schubert produced some 1,100 works -- one does not know when he must have slept; perhaps he didn't. In the budget category, Decca has produced the five-CD set Ultimate Schubert, which contains just 11 works -- one one-hundredth of his output -- in decent, mostly older, stereo recordings. The performances chosen are excellent ones; here we have the Great C major symphony with the Vienna Philharmonic under István Kertész, the Quartetto Italiano in the "Death and the Maiden" Quartet, and Clifford Curzon in a selection of piano music. That's all very nice, but something described as "ultimate" and pertaining to Franz Schubert must at least contain something of his vocal music; he is probably the "ultimate" composer of lieder, and one cannot grasp his style at even a basic level without at least...
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