Renewed praise first of all for Graham Johnson.
This volume is as cogent an example as any of his method, a masterly exposition, in written words and musical performance, of the crucial relationship between Goethe and Schubert upon which Johnson throws a good deal of new light.
Not all here is notable Schubert, but the lesser songs serve to place in perspective the greater ones.
The CD begins with one of the latter, SchäfersKlagelied, in a finely honed, dramatic performance by Ainsley, who's heard later on the disc always to advantage. Good as Christine Schäfer is in the first version of An Mignon, she's better in the sadly neglected Der Gott und die Bajadere, as Johnson avers. This is the only song in the genre about prostitution, and a haunting one too, even though, throughout its appreciable length, it relies on just one melody, and Schäfer precisely catches its haunting atmosphere. But the climax of her contribution comes in Ganymed – with Johnson providing exactly the right rhythmic lilt at the piano, her voice conveys all the elation of poem and music.
Schäfer is the child in a three-voice rendering of Erlkönig, a manner of performing the piece that has the composer's blessing. Johnson has surely never surpassed his account here of the hair-raisingly difficult piano part. George, who perhaps has the least ingratiating songs to perform, sings with feeling and style but sometimes an excess of vibrato. An invaluable addition to the series.