Most of the part-songs here evoke some aspect of night, whether benevolent, romantic, transfigured or sinister; and between them they give a fair conspectus of Schubert’s achievement in the genre, ranging from the mellifluous, Biedermeier Die Nacht, forerunner of many a Victorian glee, and the gently sensuous Gondelfahrer to songs that far transcend their ostensible sociable purpose, above all the eerie, harmonically visionary Grab und Mond and the brooding Gesang der Geister uber den Wassern, an extended setting for men’s voices and lower strings which magnificently meets the challenge of Goethe’s great philosophical poem. Other highlights here include the alfresco Nachtgesang, with its quartet of echoing horns, Standchen, a delicious nocturnal serenade, the austere, bardic Scott setting Coronach and the serenely luminous Nachthelle.
Having won plaudits for its recordings of, inter alia, Bach, Brahms and Poulenc, the RIAS Chamber Choir again confirms its credentials as one of Europe’s finest, most virtuosic ensembles. It sings with rounded, homogeneous tone, wellnigh perfect intonation (crucial in this repertoire) and an excitingly wide dynamic range, most obviously in Nachthelle, where it moves with exemplary control from ppp to fff. Compared with the excellent Arnold Schoenberg Choir, on its seven-disc set of Schubert’s complete part-songs, the RIAS tenors are a shade sweeter and more flexible (as, for instance, in Gondelfahrer, which is altogether airier on the new recording). Characterization, too, tends to be that much more vivid from the Berliners, whether in their more ecstatic central climax in Nachthelle, their sharper contrasts in Gesang der Geister uber den Wassern or their greater sense of awe – and more palpable feeling for Schubert’s strange modulations – in Grab und Mond.
Birgit Remmert, the alto soloist in Standchen (sung, incidentally, in the version with women’s voices), sings well enough but with insufficient lightness and sense of fun – Angelika Kirchschlager, on the Viennese recording, is definitely preferable here. But Werner Gura negotiates what one of Schubert’s friends called ‘the damnably high’ tenor solo in Nachthelle gracefully and with no sense of strain. Philip Mayers is a serviceable rather than specially imaginative pianist, though the delicate, silvery treble of the early nineteenth-century instrument is enchantingly heard in Psalm 23 and the shimmering high repeated notes of Nachthelle; and the other instrumentalists make their mark – splendid rotund horns (and finely managed echo effects) in Nachtgesang im Walde, sombrely intense strings in Gesang der Geister. No complaints about the recorded sound, clear and warm, with a well-judged vocal-instrumental balance. Anyone contemplating a single disc of Schubert’s still undervalued part-songs won’t do better than this, which combines several of the finest with a number of delightful rarities in first-rate performances.'