Matthias Goerne marks a notable first with his latest album. He departs from the familiar territory of Schubert’s songs with piano accompaniment to perform a selection of pieces freshly arranged for voice and orchestra by his long-standing recital partner Alexander Schmalcz. Exploring this new terrain with Goerne are the musicians of The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. Schubert Revisited is released today.

Matthias Goerne, one of the most high-profile Schubertians of his generation, has recorded a selection of Schubert’s songs not in their original versions with piano but in orchestral arrangements by Alexander Schmalcz, Goerne’s accompanist of many years’ standing. Goerne says about Alexander Schmalcz’s arrangements: “His creativity in adapting these songs for the orchestra is enormous, while his stylistic sensibilities and his subtle approach in deploying the right instruments at the right moment are truly astonishing.” “Schubert’s ability to empathize makes him one of the most important composers in the whole of human history. (…) He created “a perfect balance between intellectuality and the greatest naturalness. With Schubert, even the most complicated melodies and forms sound entirely natural.” (Goerne)

The Magnificat and Gloria, written in 1822, are Mendelssohn’s first large-scale works which he composed for reasons other than study purposes. The influence of the intense cultivation of Bach by his teacher, Carl Friedrich Zelter, and the Berlin Sing-Akademie are clearly evident, as in the later chorale cantatas. The masterful 19-voice motet, Tu es Petrus, which Mendelssohn gave his sister as a birthday present, he had planned to publish as his very first sacred work. Frieder Bernius and the Kammerchor Stuttgart present a further addition to their model, prizewinning CD series of Mendelssohn’s complete sacred works.