Search - Oliver Widmer, Franz [Vienna] Schubert, Jan Schultsz :: Schubert: Opera Arias

A disc of operatic arias by Schubert? Did Schubert write great operas? No. Only an academic or devout enthusiast would want to sit through them. But did he write great opera arias? Occasionally. After all, the odd one proved a starting point for what would subsequently turn into a song. And this anthology includes a number from Alfonso und Estrella, which was later fed into Winterreise's "Tauschung." Many of the better arias are for baritone, reflecting Schubert's friendship with the singer Johann Michael Vogl, so there was plenty of scope for the baritone here, Oliver Widmer, to select rewarding items. Steering clear of the comparatively well-known Fierrabras and Die Verschworenen, Vogl has preferred to give a platform to the early operas Teufels Lustschloss and Die Freunde von Salamaka, and to fragments like Die Burgschaft and Adrast. The singing is attractive--agile, light, and sympathetically responsive--and the playing more accomplished than one might expect. It makes a welcome tag-on to Hyperion's Schubert Lieder series. The booklet comes with encyclopedic notes. --Michael White