In part twenty-six of their epic journey exploring the complete songs of Schubert, Conor Biggs and Michel Stas present a programme of attractive, shorter songs that Schubert composed in the summer and autumn of 1816. Schubert is gradually abandoning the sprawling drawing-room cantata form so prevalent in his earlier Lieder in favour of shorter strophic settings which bear the hallmark of a great composer, even if not all of them are great songs. The religious dimension is noticeable in songs such as “Gott im Frühlinge” and a paraphrase of the ‘Lord is my Shepherd’, (“Der gute Hirt”). Schubert’s friend and mentor in classical Greek mythology, Johann Mayrhofer, features in many fine settings, including the astounding “Fragment aus dem Aeschylus”. And the attractive “Alte Liebe rostet nie”
