Credits:

Schubert (1797-1828)

Description:

Roderick Williams sings Schubert! Volume 2 combines "Swan Song" and Beethoven!Roderick Williams, the renowned British baritone, winner of the 2016 Royal Philharmonic Society Prize, artistic director of the Leeds Reader Music Festival 2016, and known in Japan for his regular performances with the Bach Collegium Japan. Launched at Chandos in 2019, Roderick Williams and renowned song accompanist Ian Burnside's project of recording three Schubert song collections. The second volume couples Schubert's posthumous song cycle "Swan Songs" with Beethoven's serial song cycle "To a Faraway Lover". Although only 12 years apart in compositional age, the two works by Beethoven retain the flavor of the late classical period, while Schubert explores the dawn of the early Romantic period. Note the elaborate recording method of the Beethoven, in which the voices are set a little farther away so that the piano part stands out.Roderick Williams has participated in numerous performances and recordings of songs, operas, and religious works, but Schubert is especially close to his heart, and he spent three years intensively studying and performing Schubert's three song cycles for the 2017/2018 season at Wigmore Hall. The Schubert Cycle Project is an extensive project that includes not only recordings and performances around the world, but also public rehearsals, master classes, workshops, and radio broadcasts, and he details his experiences on his blog. Roderick Williams has also stated, "Performing at the Wigmore is not the ultimate goal, but the research and preparation itself is my focus," and through this recording, we present an interpretation of Schubert that has gained even greater depth and stature after the concert at Wigmore Hall. Tokyo M-Plus