Schubert 200 Vol.2: Licht und Schatten

With his reputation in Vienna steadily growing (his concerts with singer Johann Michael Vogl were renowned, and by 1825 he was negotiating with four publishers), Schubert was now at the height of his artistic powers. Yet 1824 was perhaps the most miserable of Schubert’s entire life. His friends had left Vienna and he was depressed and feeling the effects of his physical illness: “I feel like the most unfortunate, miserable person in the world. Imagine a person whose health will never get better and who, out of desperation, keeps making things worse instead of better. Imagine a man whose brightest hopes have been dashed and ask yourself whether that is not the most wretched man on earth?"

 The year 1825, however, brought light to Schubert’s life. He traveled with his friend Vogl throughout Austria during the summer and felt his powers and hopes returning.

Songs of Death and Resurrection

At the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the lied increasingly took on orchestral garb. The boundary with opera became almost impalpable. That is what Samuel Hasselhorn and Łukasz Borowicz demonstrate here, in a splendid programme mingling smiles and disillusionment, where some of the most characteristic orchestral lieder and operatic arias of this Austro-German ‘fin de siècle’ era blend perfectly together.

I want to thank the Funk foundation who made this recording possible with their generous support!

(Schubert 200 Vol. 1)

The years 2023-2028 mark 200 years since the five last years of Franz Schubert. This leads up to the 200th anniversary of Schubert’s death in Vienna on 19 November 2028. 

In order to pay homage to this important event, baritone Samuel Hasselhorn and pianist Ammiel Bushakevitz have started a multi-genre international project titled “SCHUBERT 200”. A major focus of this project will be the recording of one CD of Schubert’s songs per year for HARMONIA MUNDI, culminating in the year 2028. Each CD will mirror the Lieder that Schubert wrote exactly 200 years earlier.

The “SCHUBERT 200” project will be aimed at a new, young generation of Lieder enthusiasts. The project goal is to and is discover the extent to which Schubert’s songs are relevant to our lives in the 21st century and how this connection can be made tangible.