Schubert’s oratorio Lazarus is unfinished (part of the 2nd and the complete 3rd act are missing), and that may account for its relative obscurity. A great shame, as Lazarus is one of Schubert’s most original and forward looking dramatic works. It contains music of great beauty and power, its structure highly innovative, as it is one continuous dramatic development without the distinction between recitative and aria.

A most welcome reissue from the Berlin Classics catalogue of this neglected masterwork, featuring a superb all German cast, with the great Eberhard Büchner and Ingeborg Springer. The famous Berliner Singakademie and the Staatskapelle Berlin are conducted by choral specialist Dietrich Knothe.

Booklet contains extensive liner notes on the composer and his music.