David Ulrich

It’s great to have the team of baritone Roman Trekel and pianist Ulrich Eisenlohr back together for more Schubert. I’ve been waiting for their return ever since Volume 1 in this Naxos Schubert song series, where they made such profoundly beautiful music in their performance of Winterreise (type Q661 in Search Reviews). Here they join with soprano Ruth Ziesak to perform some of Schubert’s more unusual songs–settings of poems by Ossian (James Macpherson) that are exceptional for their freer structures and near-pictorial musical storytelling. The young composer’s imagination seemed to find special inspiration in the powerfully vivid images and fantastic tales embodied in these poems and he gives the singers and accompanist some bold and challenging music to perform. The latter part of the program is devoted to songs on texts by Walter Scott, primarily from Lady of the Lake.

On Ulrich Schnauss' third album Goodbye, he gently fades away from Boards of Canada style breakbeats and deep into a shoegaze slumber that drifts gently into an ethereal realm slightly reminiscent of Enigma, Ultravox, and at its most lush moments, Enya. Yes, Enya, but maybe only if she were to be produced by Kevin Shields. Breathy keyboard pads are at the forefront and this results in a more sleepy retro vibe derivative of '80s new age, which might be the trouble with this record. On previous albums, Schnauss seemed to be evolving into his own futuristic style of beat-making, but here the excessive layering seems to be a step backward, with less focus on the rhythmic IDM and electronica aspects, and more on the expansive soundscapes…

This collection of songs published in the year following Schubert’s death in 1828 is not a true cycle, nor were these pieces intended as a set by the composer. Even the title, which refers to the Romantic notion of a swan’s ability to sing one enchanting song only at its death, was assigned posthumously by the collection’s publisher. Nevertheless, all but one of these 14 deeply emotional songs (in the best Romantic tradition of desperation, lost love, longing, and wistful, painful remembrance) are set to the poems of two writers, Ludwig Rellstab and Heinrich Heine.