As the Naxos Deutsche Schubert-Lied-Edition is arranged by poet, Mayrhofer will win equal prominence alongside his more illustrious counterparts, Goethe and Schiller. This first volume of the Mayrhofer Lieder includes a fair proportion of poems inspired by Greek mythology and reminds us that the classically educated Mayrhofer had his own personality. The German bass Cornelius Hauptmann brings the voice of a Sarastro to the graver songs, regularly descending to the bottom of the stave and once (in Liedesend) going right down to the basement for a low B. He can be tender, as in Nachtviolen, but the ability to fine down the voice to a well-focused core does not come easily to him. A song such as Fahrt zum Hades asks for a slimmer vocal line and some others sound positively awkward.
The obvious comparison is with the equivalent performances in Hyperion’s Schubert Edition. The contrast in atmosphere between Hauptmann and Thomas Hampson (on Hyperion’s Volume 14) in the same group of seven songs on classical Greek themes could hardly be greater – Hampson intimate and sensitive, Hauptmann comparatively straightforward. The extra depth and beauty that Hampson brings to the music is worth having, though he does add an extra two minutes to Memnon which nearly doubles its length. By contrast, Hauptmann’s virtues are clear words and a sense of purpose. Further comparisons with other Hyperion volumes come to the same conclusion: Hauptmann is an unfussy guide to this repertoire, well paired with his strict accompanist Stefan Laux, but a bit more imagination would not go amiss. The recording quality combines space and clarity. With 600 or so songs still to go, Naxos’s Deutsche Schubert-Lied-Edition has the welcome advantage that it should not prove a strain on the collector’s pocket.'