Die Singphoniker - Schubert: Complete Part Songs for Male Voices, Vol. 4 (1997)

This disc, Vol. 4 four of Singphoniker's five-volume collection of the complete part-songs for male voices, may be the weakest in the series. All the others have one or more indisputable masterpieces on them. Even Vol. 1, with its half-dozen drinking songs, and Vol. 2, with its half-dozen composition exercises, still have a few masterpieces. But while Vol. 4 has no composition exercises and few drinking songs, it has the lowest number of masterpieces and the highest number of nearly unknown Schubert songs. But there are still Schubert songs and so great a composer of songs was Schubert that even his least-known songs are often still wonderful. Schlachtlied (D. 912), is a major-keyed march, but an extremely effective major-keyed march. Jünglingswonne (D. 983) is a simple tune extolling German manhood, but it is a lovely tune. And in these superb performances by Singphoniker, even the least of Schubert's part-songs sound lovely. The German ensemble has a sweet but not cloying sound, with warm melodies, rounded harmonies, and an acute sense of balance and rhythm. In its performances, all of Schubert's part-songs from the greatest to the least sound magnificent.