Schubert: 3 Song Cycles

Particularly renowned for his insightful and sensitive performances, acclaimed tenor Ian Bostridge is on fine form in these three major Schubert song cycles. Alongside his affecting interpretation of Die schöne Müllerin and deeply felt Winterreise is his celebrated recording of Schwanengesang, which won golden opinions for its ‘marvellously haunting expression’ (Gramophone).

This three-disc set includes a bonus DVD of Winterreise with pianist Julius Drake, as well as the documentary film Over the Top with Franz. "Schubert is the greatest songwriter of all time; the composer who made what had been a minor genre into one of the lynchpins of Western classical music and one of its deepest forms of expression," says Bostridge. "And it was in his three song cycles, composed in the last eight years of his life - Die schöne Müllerin, Winterreise and Schwanengesang - that he reached furthest and deepest, conjuring whole new worlds out of the barest means: an expressionist, an absurdist, an existentialist avant la lettre. No recording can be a definitive statement of what one feels about any work, least of all these shape-shifting masterpieces, but to explore them in the company of a brace of dazzling pianist-musicians has been one of the great experiences of my life."