Beethoven's Lieder have not managed to achieve the same degree of popularity as his symphonies, concertos, sonatas and string quartets, and yet he wrote over 80 songs with an attention to texts and architecture that was subsequently to reach its apogee with Schubert, Schumann and Wolf.The 28 Lieder chosen by Barbara Hendricks represent range from the salon piece to the most poignant poems of Goethe, via the perfectly constructed cycle of An die ferne Geliebte, not forgetting the commissions of the Scottish publisher George Thomson. Future releases from Arte Verum will include Pergolesi's Stabat Mater & cantata Orfeo.