Review

Ah, it’s so easy to imagine the famous Schubertiades, the composer’s evenings of music with his friends in 19th-century Vienna. A beautifully appointed salon, fire roaring in the fireplace, Franz at the pianoforte, encircled by his friends accompanying and singing…except it never happened like that. For most of his brief life and career, Schubert lived in relative poverty and could not possibly have afforded a pianoforte. Most of his songs and song cycles were composed with a guitar, as presented here. That seems to solve the mystery of his Arpeggione Sonata, scored for that briefly popular guitar-like instrument and piano.

So what are Schubert’s songs like in their “authentic” version? Surprisingly different and beautiful. The absence of piano, so pivotal to our experience of Schubert’s music, is only felt in Erlkönig, where the piano’s lower register conveys horror with a greater force. Otherwise, the well-known pieces present a gentler, more delicate picture, with a beautiful nuance, inviting you to lean in and listen closely. A lot of credit for this goes to Philippe Sly and John Charles Britton. Sly, yet another talented alumnus of the Schulich School of Music at McGill University in Montreal is receiving well-deserved recognition for his operatic performances all over the globe. Britton is an accomplished guitar accompanist and transcriptions writer, who collaborates with artists of the calibre of Angela Gheorghiu and, of course, Sly.

A beautiful and memorable album.