Franz schubert torrent complete torrent#

It took him a while to reach the comparable levels of originality and expressive intensity in his orchestral and instrumental works. No composer of solo song in any language had achieved anything like this before Schubert. Just to pick out two of these songs: вЂDie StadtвЂ™ (вЂThe CityвЂ™) conveys the hallucinatory imagery of the poem with rippling, harmonically ambiguous piano figures that вЂ“ most drastically of all вЂ“ fail to resolve at the end then thereвЂ™s the profoundly unsettling pre-Freudian вЂDoppelgГ¤ngerвЂ™, with its oppressive slow-building piano chords, and the singer-protagonistвЂ™s terrified cry as he recognises his own ghostly double, mocking the agonies of his old unrequited love. It makes the voice sound as though it is coming from another, better world.ДЇrom this can be charted a compelling journey of enrichment and consolidation to the final set of masterpieces in Lieder form: the six settings of poems by Heinrich Heine that mark the high point of the collection published posthumously as Schwanengesang (вЂSwansongвЂ™). NГ¤he des Geliebten (вЂCloseness of the BelovedвЂ™), written the following year, looks at first like a simple strophic song, with four verses set to the same melody вЂ“ though what a melody! But the pianoвЂ™s two-bar introduction is a little miracle: a soft pulsating triplet figure rises ardently, performing one of those deft harmonic turns-on-a-sixpence (from B flat major to G flat) for which Schubert is famous.

Franz schubert torrent complete torrent#

This is only the beginning: after Gretchen comes a torrent of masterpieces. The climax, at the words вЂach, sein Kuss!вЂ™ (вЂah, his kiss!вЂ™), can be a shock in performance even today. On top of this floats a wonderful vocal line, combining the melodic fluency of great folksong with the heightened expression of recitative. All these elements combine to form a kind atmospheric image in sound вЂ“ specific, yet intriguingly ambiguous at the same time.

The repeated da-DA rhythm in the left hand could be the action of the treadle вЂ“ but it could also be GretchenвЂ™s anxiously beating heart. Its rapidly turning, flowing right hand is the movement of the wheel clearly enough, but it also catches something of GretchenвЂ™s agitation. What is it thatвЂ™s so new about Gretchen am Spinnrade? Well for one thing the piano part is no simple accompaniment. Something new, of unprecedented power вЂ“ you could hardly say that of Exultate, jubilate, deliciously charming though it is. How could a 17-year-old boy from a cosy middle-class Viennese background have achieved such empathy with a passionate young woman, painfully aware that she is about to be betrayed? In the words of the influential Austrian critic Richard Heuberger, Schubert created вЂsomething new, of unprecedented power, the first composition in a hitherto unknown form, the first modern German songвЂ™. 2 in B flat and Gretchen am Spinnrade (вЂGretchen at the Spinning-wheel), one of the defining masterpieces of the Romantic Lieder tradition. 25) and the cantata Exultate, jubilate вЂ“ date from his 17th year at the same age Schubert composed both his wonderfully vital Symphony No. MozartвЂ™s first unshakeable repertory pieces вЂ“ the вЂLittle G minorвЂ™ Symphony (No. But in terms of solid, lasting musical achievement, his output is just as remarkable. Of course, the teenage SchubertвЂ™s public musical career wasnвЂ™t anywhere near as comet-like as MozartвЂ™s. Not that Schubert had much of a lifetime to compose them: he was dead two months before his 32nd birthday. There are two of the most dazzling gems of 19th-century orchestral music (the Unfinished and Great C major symphonies), four profoundly original string quartets and an even greater string quintet, a wealth of glorious piano music, some of the most original choral works of the Romantic era, and an awe-inspiring legacy of well over 600 hundred songs вЂ“ the latter not so much a treasure chest as an immense vault one could spend a lifetime exploring. But the best is unsurpassed вЂ“ and thereвЂ™s so much of it. And while some of his operas have begun to be reappraised in our time, theyвЂ™re still far from being standard repertory. Schubert wrote no concertos and very few display pieces in any form as a pianist he was more than competent but no virtuoso.