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Every Schubert Song, Ranked: Listening to 40 hours of Lieder

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Re: Every Schubert Song, Ranked: Listening to 40 hours of Lieder

#21

Post by Bud »

Professional classical baritone here. I've had the pleasure of singing Schubert's songs for...around 37 years now. (Oh dear, I'm getting rather old.)

Other than Bach's cantatas, this is probably my favorite body of work for the classical singer. The other exemplars are Schumann, Brahms, Wolf, and Mahler, but Schubert still reigns supreme in the realm of the Lied.

I've listened to probably nearly all of Schubert's output by now, and have sung, oh, perhaps half of them.

Overall, I find these rankings apt and mostly accurate. Really the best is left for last; Schubert's 3 monumental song cycles are all put in the "transcendent" category at the very end, but the songs in them (24 for Winterreise alone) are left unevaluated on an individual basis. This was probably wise.

Re: Every Schubert Song, Ranked: Listening to 40 hours of Lieder

#22

Post by Bud »

akdor1154 wrote: post #3

(completely off-topic, but commenters on this thread likely to know) Anyone know a good recommendation system for classical, or even better, cross-genre recommendations? E.g. a project/product that is hosted and ready to use / subscribe to. Where I could put in "I like pieces composed by Ravel and Holst, and I also like things performed by Remy le Beouf", and it would actually give me sensible recs.. Spotify seems to…

Make friends with a professional classical musician, and ask them! We're reasonably fun people. ;)

Re: Every Schubert Song, Ranked: Listening to 40 hours of Lieder

#24

Post by john61 »

blacksqr wrote: post #7

I wish someone would do some Schubert arrangements in a more modern vein, like Cole Porter-style jazz ensemble, to make his songs more listenable to modern ears. Classical composer Howard Goodall called Schubert the last really gifted melodicist before the Beatles showed up, it's a pity his work isn't more accessible.

Schubert Winttereise with Sax:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqWZ___E2tQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4X8eJqnluDc

https://www.gramola.at/en/shop/produkte/jazz/gramola/i%20dio...

Re: Every Schubert Song, Ranked: Listening to 40 hours of Lieder

#25

Post by DavidPiper »

DavidWoof wrote: post #12

POV: Skip the list and immediately search for Erlkönig... Found it under Transcendent, Erlkönig: Never loses its power, no matter how many times you hear it. OK, I endorse this list.

The Youtuber Sideways has a fun video on the music theory behind Erlkönig - very cool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcnSX319OhI

(The second half devolves into a rant, still fun though).

Re: Every Schubert Song, Ranked: Listening to 40 hours of Lieder

#26

Post by bjornlouser »

akdor1154 wrote: post #3

(completely off-topic, but commenters on this thread likely to know) Anyone know a good recommendation system for classical, or even better, cross-genre recommendations? E.g. a project/product that is hosted and ready to use / subscribe to. Where I could put in "I like pieces composed by Ravel and Holst, and I also like things performed by Remy le Beouf", and it would actually give me sensible recs.. Spotify seems to…

Gramophone has a 'What Next' feature that starts with some well known piece and gives a sort of decision tree of suggested pieces based on various criteria.

https://www.gramophone.co.uk/features/article/after-tchaikov...

The digital subscription allows you to search the archive, although I'm not sure how long they have written 'What Next'.

Re: Every Schubert Song, Ranked: Listening to 40 hours of Lieder

#28

Post by jacquesm »

callmeal wrote: post #10
felix318 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a lot of pop music that take melodies from classical pieces, they sound just like any other pop song. There is more to Schubert, or the Beatles for that matter, than a talent for melody. By the way, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Johann Strauss, and a few others born after Schubert were at least just as good melodists as Lennon and McCartney.

Rachmaninoff heavily influenced Eric Carmen and others: https://www.cmuse.org/you-cant-believe-how-much-rachmaninoff... >> As far as derivative works are concerned, the adagio theme (the second movement) appears in the ballad All By Myself (1975) by Eric Carmen, who subsequently explained that Rachmaninoff was “his favourite music.” The following year, he released Never Gonna Fall in Love Again, which, in turn, was b…

I think that went beyond 'heavily influenced'. He just made a song on top of an existing melody.

Re: Every Schubert Song, Ranked: Listening to 40 hours of Lieder

#30

Post by 8bitsrule »

Bud wrote: post #21

Professional classical baritone here. I've had the pleasure of singing Schubert's songs for...around 37 years now. (Oh dear, I'm getting rather old.) Other than Bach's cantatas, this is probably my favorite body of work for the classical singer. The other exemplars are Schumann, Brahms, Wolf, and Mahler, but Schubert still reigns supreme in the realm of the Lied. I've listened to probably nearly all of Schubert's out…

The transcendents are truly that. But, I'm more into symphonies than vocals (no offense). I've heard all of the biggies many times. And if I had to pick one for the desert island, it'd be the Unfinished and Great. (Two in one jacket.) Why? because: how did he do that?
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